28 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



against their enemies. Passing to 

 the weasels, ermines, sables and the 

 mink, we again find these glands 

 more highly developed, and the 

 odor of their secretion more or less 

 powerful when the animals are ex- 

 cited in any manner, as through 

 fear or anger. The emission of the 

 secretion is voluntary as in the case 

 of the skunk ; and, although not as 

 offensive as in that animal, it is 

 nevertheless very penetrating and 

 extremely unpleasant. It is not as 

 lasting as the scent of the skunk, 

 and it is not in the least noticeable 

 when the creatiu-es are at rest and 

 not aroused. 



The scent of the secretion of the 

 glands in the case of the mink is 

 especially strong, ranking prob- 

 ably next to that of the skunk in 

 its several characteristics ; but to 

 many this odor is entirely different 

 from that of the skunk, and by no 

 means disagreeable ; it would not 

 especially deter some from remov- 

 ing the animal alive from a trap or 

 from capturing it by other means. 

 The minks being largely aquatic by 

 nature is another reason why their 

 odor is not as likely to be perceived, 

 as the glands would not be brought 

 into use while the animal was in the 

 water- Coues stated that "it is used 

 with advantage by trappers, to in- 

 crease the efficacy of their bait. It 

 belongs to the class of musky 

 odors, which, in minute quantities, 

 are not disagreeable to most persons ; 

 and, indeed, a moderate amount of 

 mink scent is less undesirable than 

 the rank odor of the she-wolf for 

 instance. The former is special and 

 peculiar ; the latter seems to convey all 

 nature of the animal." 



SKIN OF A YOUNG SKUNK 



This skin of a skunk with broad white 

 markings was collected and prepared by 

 the writer; it was taken many years ago 

 at Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, and is a 

 western species. 



that is bad in the 



vided into quite a 

 contain but a sinj 



With res])ect to the badgers, lit- 

 tle or nothing has been done in the 

 direction of description of the 

 glands as they occur in the species 

 in this country. 



For the sake of completeness, we 

 may now devote the remainder of 

 this article to a consideration of 

 these musteline animals that is, to 

 their habits, distributions and kinds ; 

 for, taken in its entirety, the family 

 can hold its own with any other 

 family of mammals in North 

 America in the matter of the inter- 

 est it has for us, and certainly in 

 its economic importance. As a 

 group of the order Carnivora, it is 

 an unustially well defined one, made 

 uj) of many species, and being rep- 

 resented in nearly all ])arts of the 

 world with the exception of the 

 Australian region. The most typ- 

 ical musteline mammals are the mar- 

 tens and weasels, while the other 

 forms making up the family vary to 

 a considerable extent, such as the 

 otters, the skunks, and the badgers. 



The belt in which the greatest 

 number are found lies in the North- 

 ern Hemisphere, especially in the 

 sub-boreal zone and in the northern 

 girdle of the North Temperate. 

 Typical weasels make up the great 

 bulk of the mustelines, it being the 

 largest genus or the one containing 

 the greatest number of species ; 

 moreover, they have the widest geo- 

 graphical distribution. Weasels 

 may be said to typify the family, and 

 zoologists recognize all the way 

 from fifteen to twenty genera as 

 composing it. We have discovered 

 that this family may naturally be di- 

 number of subfamilies ; some of these 

 ;ie genus, and this genus but a single 



WESTERN SKUNKS ARE REALLY BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS 



Of the many species of skunks in tne United States none is handsomer than the western ones. Some art entirely black, with 

 small white spots on their black bodies; others are marked as here shown, which is from a photograph by the writer of a row of 

 five on exhibition in the Mammal Hall of the United States National Museum. 



