QUADRUPEDS. 11 



of the observer, who in his fondness for sport thinks not of any 

 result but that of sec uring a prize. It would be more prudent to 

 rest content with pelting this quadruped from a safe distance, or to 

 drive it away by shouting loudly ; but almost all inexperienced 

 persons, the first time such an opportunity occurs, rush forward 

 with intent to run the animal down. This appears to be an easy 

 task ; in a few moments it is almost overtaken ; a few more strides, 

 and the victim may be grasped by its long and waving tail but 

 that tail is now suddenly curled over the back, its pace is slacken- 

 ed, and in one instant the condition of things is entirely reversed ; 

 the lately triumphant pursuer is eagerly flying from his intended 

 prize, involved in an atmosphere of stench, gasping for breath, or 

 blinded and smarting with pain, if his approach were sufficiently 

 close to allow of his being struck in the eyes by the pestilent fluid 

 of the skunk. Should the attack on this creature be led by a dog, 

 and he be close at hand when the disgusting discharge is made, he 

 runs with tail between his legs howling away, and by thrusting his 

 nose into the soil as he retreats, tries to escape from the horrible 

 effluvium which renders the air in the immediate vicinity of the 

 skunk too stifling to be endured. Thus is an animal, possessed of 

 very trifling strength and no peculiar sagacity, protected by the 

 hand of nature against the most powerful and destructive enemies. 

 A few glands secrete a most noisome and intolerably stinking fluid, 

 and this scattered with peculiar force upon the body of his ene- 

 mies, or even in the air, is sufficient to disarm the violence 

 of most quadrupeds, and induce man himself rather to avoid than 

 to seek an encounter. 



The organs by which this fluid is formed, are placed near the 

 termination of the digestive tube, and the ducts from the glands 

 open into the rectum, by the aid of whose muscles the fluid is 

 ejected with astonishing force, and is aimed with great accuracy, 

 rarely missing the object, if discharged while within the proper 

 distance. The faculty this animal possesses of annoying its ene- 

 mies by the discharge of the fluid just mentioned, causes it rather 

 to be shunned than hunted, which the value of its skin would 

 otherwise be sure to occasion. 



The skunk inhabits the whole of North America, and is also 

 found throughout a considerable part of the southern portion of 

 the continent. As the colored markings vary exceedingly in dif- 

 ferent individuals, it is not surprising that naturalists have made 

 several species of this animal, though without any foundation in 



