THE SKUNK. 



PLATE XL II. THE SKUNK. 



THIS animal is called by different names by different 

 naturalists, Stinkard, Skink, and Skunk. It inhabits 

 the whole of North America, and is also found through- 

 out a part of the southern portion of that continent. 

 A considerable number of animals of this genus are natives 

 of America, resembling each other strongly in form and 

 size, but differing in the number and variety of their 

 stripes and markings, have been described by authors as 

 so many distinct species. Baron Cuvier thinks that the 

 present state of our knowledge of these animals does not 

 warrant us in considering them otherwise than as varie- 

 ties of a single species, and of these varieties he enumerates 

 fifteen. 



This animal is of a brown color, marked sometimes with 

 two white stripes. The faculty this animal possesses, of 

 annoying its enemies by the discharge of a noisome fluid, 

 causes it to be rather shunned than hunted, which the 

 value of its skin would otherwise be sure to occasion. 

 The smallest drop of this fluid is sufficient to render a gar- 

 ment detestable for a great length of time. Washing, 

 smoking, baking, or burying articles of dress, seem to be 

 equally inefficient for its jemoval. 



The habitudes of this animal are the same as all the rest 

 of the weasel kind, as they prey upon smaller animals and 

 birds' eggs. The squash, for instance, burrows like the 

 polecat in the clefts of rocks, where it brings forth its 

 young. It often steals into farm-yards, and kills the poul- 

 try, eating only their brains. Nor is it safe to pursue or 

 offend it, for then it calls up all its scents, which are its 

 most powerful protection. At that time neither men nor 

 dogs will offer to approach it ; the scent is so strong that it 



