THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 89 



ing he comes forth and begins his wanderings. If met by a 

 man or a dog he faces the intruder and offers battle, usually 

 with such success that he is unmolested ; no man, unless armed 

 with a gun, being hardy enough to attack the beast, provided 

 as it is with one of the most powerful weapons in nature. The 

 fluid which the skunk ejects, instead of being the urine of the 

 animal, as many people suppose, is a secretion held in glands on 

 the under side of the tail, near the body. "When this liquid is 

 thrown at an object the tail is of necessity laid flat on the back. 

 The secretion is of a yellowish color, and is, as most people are 

 aware, of the most intensely disgusting odor ; it has the property 

 of blistering the skin on which it strikes, and if reaching the 

 eyes of animals it is liable to produce blindness. The skunk 

 breeds but once in the year, bringing forth from three to seven 

 young in April or May. The young animals live with the 

 parents until they are able to provide for themselves, when 

 they are generally driven from the burrow, although they 

 sometimes pass the winter with them. 



Trapping this animal is a work of no difficulty, the skunk 

 having the utmost indifference for all snares and pitfalls. We 

 have seen one walk deliberately into a trap, rather than go out 

 of his way six inches, and the trouble is, not to find a trap, but 

 to find the best one for the peculiarities of the animal. Steel- 

 traps set at the mouth of the burrow or in the fields which the 

 animals frequent are sometimes employed ; they are baited, as 

 should be all snares for the skunk, with dead mice, or birds or 

 pieces of meat. The objection to steel-traps is that in them the 

 animal is as offensive as ever, and must be killed before it can 

 be removed. 



A writer on the habits of the skunk says : — 



" In summer these animals can be taken in great numbers by 

 the following method : Find a place where they travel from 

 their holes to a hen-coop or through a corn-field. Make a path 

 for them by treading down the grass, and set up sticks along 

 on each side to guide them more surely. Set traps at intervals, 

 and strew pieces of meat or dead mice before and behind each 

 trap. A whole family of skunks will walk down this path, the 

 old ones heading the procession ; and as one after another is 

 caught those behind will climb over and pass on, till all are 

 taken. I have caught in this way two old ones and eight young 



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