where skunks in former years were very plentiful, I appre- 

 ciate the attitude of the average farmer towards this inter- 

 esting animal when at times it attempts to establish head- 

 quarters in or under the farm-yard buildings, with particular 

 partiality for the hen-coop. But the occasional raids that it 

 makes upon the fyen-roost, and likewise upon some of our 

 game birds and their nests, are faults of individuals rather 

 than of the species, and are on the average abundantly atoned 

 for in the service that skunks render in the destruction of 

 noxious insects and rodents. I am well aware that some 

 naturalists and others deny to skunks, as well as to some of 

 the other carnivores that have been mentioned here, any im- 

 portance as insect and rodent destroyers; but that they are 

 of such importance I believe has been satisfactorily shown 

 by unprejudiced reports in the bulletins of the U. S. Biological 

 Survey. I know from personal observation that our larger 

 species of skunk does eat vast numbers of insects, grass- 

 hoppers in particular. Its indiscriminate killing is unjusti- 

 fied from the standpoint of its fur value alone. 



The raccoon is an animal that is omnivorous and feeds as 

 opportunity affords upon mice, frogs, crawfish, reptiles, vege- 

 table matter, insects, etc., with no special preference, and is 

 therefore of less importance as a foe to vermin. It is not as 

 a rule harmful and is valuable in its fur. 



Of the remaining fur-bearing flesh-eaters of Minnesota, the 

 lynx and wild-cat, so far as I am able to learn, have become 

 exceedingly scarce. Prime skins of the wild-cat are worth 

 only from one to three dollars in the fur markets, but the lynx 

 brings from nine to seventeen dollars. In consequence the 

 latter animal has suffered the most from trapping, and very 

 few Minnesota skins reach the market today. In fact I be- 

 lieve the lynx has nearly vanished from our North woods, 

 and the wild-cat is too scarce to have any serious standing as 

 a game destroyer. 



The black bear, once plentiful throughout all the Northern 

 regions of the state, is another of our interesting animals 

 which has suffered relentless persecution. To this very day 

 it is generally killed on sight whenever opportunity offers. 

 The skins from this state that are marketed today are but a 



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