36 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



children. She was shooing and brushing the 

 little skunks with her tail, and they were try- 

 ing to grab it. He was on his back in the grass, 

 feet in the air, with two or three youngsters 

 tossing and tumbling about on his kicking feet. 



Skunks have a home territory a locality in 

 which they may spend their lives. The ter- 

 ritory over which skunks hunt or ramble for 

 amusement is about a thousand feet in diameter. 

 Rarely were tracks five hundred feet from the 

 dens of the several families near me. But twice 

 a skunk had gone nearly a mile away; both of 

 these were outings, evidently pleasure trips and 

 not hunts. 



Once when a Mr. and Mrs. Skunk wandered 

 up the mountainside seeking adventure and 

 amusement I trailed them read their record in 

 the snow. They climbed more than two thousand 

 feet among the crags and explored more than a 

 mile into the wilderness. They found and ate 

 a part of the contents of a mouse nest. They 

 killed other mice and left these uneaten. This 

 outing was a frolic and not a foraging expedition. 



Homeward, Mr. and Mrs. Skunk chose a 

 different route from the one taken in going up 

 the mountain. They travelled leisurely, going 

 the longest way, pausing at one place to play 

 and at another to sit and possibly to doze in 

 the sunshine. 



