A PLEA FOR THE SKUNK 



IN spite of constant persecution the skunk is 

 without doubt the tamest of all of our wild 

 animals, and shares with the weasel and mink 

 the honour of being one of the most abundant of 

 the carnivores, or flesh-eaters, near our homes. 

 This is a great achievement for the skunk, to 

 have thus held its own in the face of ever advanc- 

 ing and destroying civilisation. But the same 

 characteristics which enable it to hold its ground 

 are also those which emancipate it from its wild 

 kindred and give it a unique position among ani- 

 mals. Its first cousins, the minks and weasels, 

 all secrete pungent odours, which are unpleasant 

 enough at close range, but in the skunk the great 

 development of these glands has caused a radical 

 change in its habits of life and even in its physical 

 make-up. 



Watch a mink creeping on its sinuous way, - 

 every action and glance full of fierce wildness, 

 each step telling of insatiable seeking after liv- 

 ing, active prey. The boldest rat flees in frantic 

 terror at the hint of this animal's presence; but 

 let man show himself, and with a demoniacal grin 

 of hatred the mink slinks into covert. 



Now follow a skunk in its wanderings as it 

 comes out of its hole in early evening, slowly 



275 



