Little Stripsd Skunk 



Little Striped Skunk 



Spilogale ambarvalis (Bangs) 



Length. \ foot 3 inches. 



Description. A diminutive of the common skunk, with a differ- 

 ent colour pattern. Black, with a broad white patch on the 

 forehead, a crescent before each ear and four parallel stripes 

 on the back, interrupted and broken behind. Tail black with 

 a terminal tuft of white hairs. 



Range. Florida; local and most common on the eastern penin- 

 sula. In Mississippi, Alabama and Western Georgia north to 

 West Virginia occurs a somewhat larger variety, with the 

 white markings much reduced the Eastern striped skunk, 

 5. ringens (Merriam). Others occur in the West. 



These little skunks have much the same habits as their 

 larger brothers, possessing the same attractive appearance and the 

 same ability to make their presence extremely disagreeable. 



American Badger 



Taxidea taxus (Schreber) 



Length. 27 inches. 



Description. Body rather thick set and flat, feet rather short, 

 claws on fore feet very large, tail short. Colour, grayish, 

 mottled with black on the back in irregular transverse 

 bands; tail gray; lower parts dirty white; centre of face 

 black, including the eyes and region just above them; a white 

 median stripe from the nape nearly to the snout; sides of 

 face and throat white; a large black patch in front of each 

 ear. Legs and feet black. 



Range. Western North America, east to Wisconsin and Texas 

 formerly to Ohio. 



This flat, thick-hided, long-haired creature differs from its 

 long-suffering European cousin chiefly in its more carnivorous 

 diet, and in preferring wide-stretching flatlands to dark forests, 

 such as the Old World badger loves to hide in. 



But if badgering and badger-baiting had ever been popular 

 in this country, our species would unquestionably have put up 

 as invincible a defence against the dogs urged on to torture it 

 as ever badger did, its skin being equally tough and its jaws 



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