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THE SKUNK. 



The eyes of the Wolverene are small, and of a dark brown, and are not remarkable 

 for their brilliancy. 



A fine specimen of this animal is at present in the Zoological Gardens, where its 

 form and habits may be well studied. Except when it opens its mouth, and displays 

 the double row of glittering teeth, it does not give the spectator the idea of being a 

 particularly savage or voracious animal, but has rather a good-humored aspect. Although 

 not very quick in its movements, it is rather restless, and is seldom still except when 

 sleeping. It climbs about the branches of a tree with great ease, and seems to lux- 

 uriate in its own curious way among the boughs, rolling itself upon them, and patting 

 the branches with its paws in quite a playful manner. Its perfect command over itself 

 while thus recreating itself appears very curious, because it has but little of the look of 

 a climbing animal. 



It can leap from a tolerable height without seeming to take any precaution, or to 

 consider that it had achieved any great feat. When it descends from its tree, it will 

 not long remain on the ground, but climbs about the bars of its cage with great ease 

 and activity, always, however, seeming to ascend with greater readiness than it descends. 

 Sometimes it runs several times in succession round the enclosure, keeping up a kind 

 of canter or short gallop, and ever and anon pausing to see if a piece of cake or other 

 delicacy has been pushed through the bars. 



In its native country, the animal is detested by the hunters, whether they belong 

 to Europe or America. For the Wolverene is in the habit of following the sable- 

 hunters on their rounds, and of detaching the baits from the traps, thereby rendering 

 the whole circuit useless. If a sable or marten should happen to be entrapped, the 

 Wolverene does not eat the dead animal, but tears it out of the trap and carries it 

 away. In America, it is specially obnoxious to the hunters, because its fine sense of 

 smell enables it to discover the storehouses of provisions " caches " as they are tech- 

 nically termed which the provident hunters lay by in order to fall back upon in case 

 of bad success. If it should unfortunately discover one of these repositories, it sets 

 itself determinately to work, tears away all obstacles, and does extreme damage to the 

 provisions, by eating all the meat, and scattering on every side all the vegetable food. 



In captivity, its greatest dainty is said to be the body of a cat, for which strange 

 diet it will leave every other kind of food. 



The Wolverene is not a very prolific animal, as it seldom produces more than two 

 at a birth. The maternal residence is generally placed in the crevice of a rock, or in 

 some secluded situation, and the young Wolverenes make their appearance about May. 



The SKUNK has obtained the unenviable reputation of being literally in worse odor 

 than any other known animal. All the weasels are notable for a certain odor which 

 emanates from their persons, but the Skunk is pre-eminent in the utter noisomeness 

 of the stench which it exhales when annoyed or alarmed. To the animal itself, the 

 possession of this horrid effluvium is a most valuable means of defence, for there is 

 no enemy that will dare to attack a creature that has the power of overwhelming its 

 foes with so offensive an odor that they are unable to shake off the pollution for many 

 hours. 



There seems to be no animal that can withstand the influence of this abominable 

 odor. Dogs are trained to hunt this creature, but until they have learned the right 

 mode of attacking the fetid game, they are liable to be driven off in consternation. 

 Dogs that have learned the proper mode of attacking the Skunk, do so by leaping sud- 

 denly upon the creature, and despatching it before it can emit the fetid secretion. 

 The scent proceeds from a liquid secretion which is formed in some glands near the 

 insertion of the tail, and which can be retained or ejected at will. When the Skunk 

 is alarmed, it raises its bushy tail into a perpendicular attitude, turns its back on its 

 enemy, and ejects the nauseous liquid with some force. 



Should a single drop of this horrid secretion fall on the dress or the skin, it is hardly 

 possible to relieve the tainted object of its disgusting influence. A dog, whose coat had 

 suffered from a discharge of a Skunk's battery, retained the stench for so long a time that 

 even after a week had elapsed it rendered a table useless by rubbing itself against one of 



