WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



95 



I should as soon expect to be attacked by a 

 ground squirrel as a gopher. The Incident 

 just related, though however surprisingly 

 strange it may seem, was witnessed and cor- 

 roborated. 



Coons, skunks and ground squirrels are 

 about the only other wild animals to be found 

 or seen about the park. Of the first men- 

 tioned, it is seldom one is so bold as to show 

 itself during the daytime. Occasionally one is 

 seen prowling about the place in the night- 

 time, but indisputable evidence of their being 

 among the inhabitants of the park are their 

 numerous footprints made in the dust of road- 

 ways and paths. One of the employees of the 

 Club, who was quite expert in trapping ani- 

 mals, last season caught a number of coons, 

 one of which was an albino. The ordinary 

 markings of a coon are gray body and black 

 and white face, but this particular animal was 

 all white and the parts that were commonly 

 black were the whitest. The other parts were 

 almost a yellowish or a dirty white. These 

 changes in the color of the animal so altered 

 its general appearance it was some time before 

 anyone identified its true character when ex- 

 hibited at the club. 



Skunks are an extremely unpopular race of 

 animals. So much so that very few people know 

 what they look like. If one can be induced to 

 lay aside his prejudice it is then possible for 

 him to appreciate the fact that these animals 

 are unusually attractive in appearance. If it 

 were not for the obnoxious smell that they 

 occasionally distribute about places and at 

 times when least desired or expected, they 

 would be called or classed as being among the 

 most beautiful of all our wild animals. They 

 are shapely and strikingly marked in black 

 and white, and carry themselves with grace, 

 dignity and an independence that seems in- 

 spired by a consciousness of the possession of 

 a weapon of defense and offense, for which 

 the rest of animal life has a wholesome respect, 

 if not fear. I have never been able to put a 

 skunk to flight in a more rapid pace than a 

 deliberate walk and even then the order of 

 its moving off was always a matter of its own 

 choosing. From what I have seen of the habits 

 of these animals I think there is no danger of 

 a person being assailed in the manner which 

 they are so commonly thought to act, unless 

 they are first attacked. They are not vicious 

 and are easily tamed but probably will never 

 make popular pets. 



A half-grown one remained about the 

 grounds of our place at Diablo for several 

 days. It would come up to the back door and 

 eat out of the same dish with four young cats. 

 The cats and skunk got along together with- 

 out the appearance of the slightest disagree- 

 ment. The morning when I first detected the 

 presence of the animal, by slowly edging up to 

 where it was feeding I was able to approach 

 within six feet of it. It then began to exhibit 

 signs of objection to any further attempt to 

 closer familiarity on my part. It backed a 

 short distance with its head and face turned 

 my way, then suddenly it jumped a few inches 

 toward me with its front paws sticking out 

 straight and striking the ground with them, 



to let me know it was getting angered. Sev- 

 eral other kinds of animals express a rising 

 and dangerous temper by striking the ground 

 with one or both of their front feet, but I was 

 somewhat surprised to observe the skunk act- 

 ing in this manner. It made several such 

 jumps at different times during the day while 

 I was endeavoring to cultivate its acquaintance 

 and trying to take its picture with my camera. 

 It was when I pointed the instrument at it 

 that it displayed the most temper, and I con- 

 fess to a little nervousness, but nothing hap- 

 pened. However, I saw the little animal but 

 once thereafter. 



Besides annoying some of the families resid- 

 ing in the park grounds and who keep chickens, 

 the greatest damage for which these animals 

 are responsible is digging little holes in the 

 lawns and putting-greens of the golf course in 

 their search for grubs, or larvae, to be found 

 in damp soil. Though occasionally there is 

 just cause for complaint for their polution of 

 the nigth air, which ordinarily is so soft, pure 

 and enjoyable. Since the pelts of these ani- 

 mals have become so valuable and so many 

 have been trapped hereabouts, there has been 

 but little to complain of even in this matter. 



About the most numerous of all wild life in 

 and around the park or club grounds are the 

 ground squirrels. This seems quite remarkable 

 from the fact that ten years or so ago a war 

 of extermination was declared against the 

 rodents after the discovery that they were car- 

 riers of the disease germs known as the 

 bubonic plague. They were shot, asphyxiated 

 and poisoned by agents working systematically 

 under the direction of government and county 

 officials, to say nothing of what the owners 

 of infested land did to the squirrels to protect 

 their crops. These campaigns at the time 

 seemed effective and were carried on season 

 after season until it was difficult to find a 

 squirrel in the localities where the offensive 

 operations were conducted. Through inability 

 to secure or enforce cooperation of the land- 

 owners with the officials, the infested sections 

 were not thoroughly gone over. A colony here 

 and there was passed by. These, with the few 

 that escaped the deadly fumes of carbon bi- 

 sulphide, the poison and the shotguns, have 

 been sufficient to restore the numbers of 

 squirrels in some of the depopulated districts 

 where the war of extermination has not been 

 rigidly maintained. This part of Contra Costa 

 county appears to be one of these districts. 



Going over a low hill near the last green 

 of the golf course I suddenly intruded upon a 

 colony of fifty or more squirrels out feeding, 

 playing or sunning themselves in a space of 

 not more than an acre of ground. One old 

 squirrel quickly gave utterance to several loud, 

 sharp squeaks, which an imaginative hearer 

 might have interpreted as "Beat it! Beat it! 

 Beat it!" Whether the interpretation was cor- 

 rect or not, whatever it said was an effective 

 signal of warning, for in less time than it takes 

 to say it, every squirrel was scurrying to a 

 hole. Under such circumstances the animals 

 do not seem particular about what hole they 



