284 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



driven to it by necessity. This is especially true 

 of the little spotted skunks. For this reason 

 they often live in peace with man, while the big 

 striped fellows are hunted down and shot. 



Only once in all my out-of-door experience 

 have I come into unpleasant relations with the 

 spotted skunk, and this was under such cir- 

 cumstances that I felt the little creature was 

 fully justified in her acts. I had been sleeping 

 for some nights on a cot in a little sandy wash 

 on the banks of which was a thick mass of 

 grasses. Several times I had been awakened by 

 a skunk which was jumping about in the grass 

 catching the mischief-making mice. These 

 small rodents she caught by springing upon 

 them and then holding them with her forepaws 

 until she could kill them with her sharp teeth. 

 On this particular occasion the little mouse had 

 in some way the advantage, and, squirming 

 around, bit first, causing the skunk to give a 

 squeaky scream and unwittingly to make life 

 quite unbearable in her presence. I had read in 

 natural histories that the odor of a skunk could 

 produce unconsciousness. I can vouch now for 

 the truth of the statement. The odoriferous, 



