XXXII 



THE SKUNK 



Always and everywhere in evil re- 

 pute and bad odor, hunted, trapped, and 

 killed, a pest and a fur-bearer, it is a 

 wonder that the skunk is not extermi- 

 nated, and that he is not even uncom- 

 mon. 



With an eye to the main chance, the 

 fur-trapper spares him when fur is not 

 prime, but when the letter " R " has be- 

 come well established in the months the 

 cruel trap gapes for him at his outgo- 

 ing and incoming, at the door of every 

 discovered burrow, while all the year 

 round the farmer, sportsman, and poultry- 

 grower wage truceless war against him. 



Notwithstanding this general out- 

 lawry, when you go forth of a winter 

 morning, after a night of thaw or tem- 

 pered chill, you see his authentic sig- 

 nature on the snow, the unmistakable 

 diagonal row of four footprints each, or 

 154 



