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The skunk is also regarded in most localities as a nuisance 

 and a pest. "We have, we confess, been undecided as to 

 whether the amount of evil it does more than balances the 

 benefits that it renders, and have often advocated its protec- 

 tion. The amount of benefits received is not always appre- 

 ciated or even recognized ; the evil done one is always appar- 

 ent. We know that the skunk destroys great numbers of field- 

 mice, and is always active in pursuit of the insects which 

 abound in our cultivated fields. But we also know that it 

 devours without hesitation every young bird and egg that it 

 can find ; and, taking into account the amount of good each 

 one of its victims might have done, we fear we must deny the 

 animal the benefit of a doubt concerning its value. In suc- 

 ceeding pages, as the benefits which a single bird may render 

 in one season appear, the destruction of it cannot b^lt be 

 deprecated, and an animal whose whole life is mostly devoted 

 to the slaughter of such friends can be regarded only as an 

 enemy. 



However, the well-known peculiarity of the skunk will 

 always render it an object of disgust and hatred to the com- 

 munity ; and if volumes were written in its defence, and 

 advancing its real or supposed good qualities, the popular 

 prejudice would prevail, and the destruction of the animal 

 would, as it is now, be secured on every occasion. The skunk 

 is generally nocturnal, rarely venturing abroad during the day- 

 time, but remaining quiet in his burrow in a ledge of rocks or 

 beneath a stone wall, or perhaps in the burrow of a woodchuck, 

 the owner having fallen a victim to the skunk's appetite. At 

 early evening he comes forth, and begins his wanderings. If 

 met by a man or 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 pro- 

 duce blindness. The skunk breeds but once in the year, bring- 

 ing forth from three to seven young in April or May ; the 

 young animals live with tlie parents until they are able to pro- 

 vide 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 



