3:54 



iSkuuks. Oil Iwo oecasioiis 1 have known that re- 

 mains of recently killed Skunks were discovered in 

 nests occupied by Great Horned Owls; and at different 

 times I have secured owls of this species which were 

 so strongly scented with odor that there was no room 

 to question wbat they had been feeding upon or med- 

 dling with. Mr. Thomas H. Jackson, of West Chester, 

 Pa., writing in the "Ornithologist and Oologist," June, 

 1886, says: 



"Great Horned Owls are liberal providers for their young. 

 T have frequently found full grown Rabbits lying in the nest 

 beside the young, and scarcely a nest visited did not have a 

 strong odor of Skunk, while bones and feathers were scattered 

 around attesting to the predaceous habits of the proprietors." 



Chief among all the enemies which the pc'or and 

 well-disposed Mephitis has to guard against is man, 

 who should often protect rather than persecute this 

 animal. 



THEiY DO MUCH GOOD. 



Of all our mammals this species is probably the most 

 valuable to the farmer and fruit grower. The insect 

 eating habits of this nocturnal prowler are so gener- 

 ally known to the fai'mors of the hop-growing districts 

 of the Empire State that local laws have been enacted 

 for the protection of the much abused and persecuted 

 Skunks, which Dr. C. H. Merriam verj' truly says, is 



"Pre-eminently an insect eater; he destroys more beetles, 

 grasshoppers and the like than all our other mammals together, 

 and in addition to these devours vast numbers of mice." 



From numerous repoits received at the Department 

 of Agriculture from farmers, poulterers and sports- 

 men in Pennsylvania it is quite evident that the odorif- 

 erous Skunk is not regarded with much favor; in fact, 



