8(5 



ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



between the hind legs, but these marks are not constant. 

 The tail is clothed with long black hair. In the Hud- 

 son's Bay museum there is a white variety of the pekan, 

 having only the nose and feet brown ; but this colour is 

 rarely met with. 



■ The Hudson's Bay Weasel, or Skunk. 



Mephitis Hudsonica, Bich. North. Zool. i, 55. Mephitis 

 Americana, Sabine. Skunk Weasel, Pennant. Seecawk, 

 Cree Indians. 



There exists, both in America and in Southern Africa, 

 a certain race of weasels, which are provided by nature 

 with a very singular, and even formidable, mode of self- 

 defence. This consists in the power of ejecting, at will, 

 a most insupportable and offensive stench, which is as 

 noxious to man, as it is to aU other animals excepting 

 those of its own tribe. The history of these quadrupeds, 

 or, more properly, their specific distinctions, require 

 much investigation ; sines they are all more or less black, 

 marked with very distinct white stripes. We shall, 

 therefore, confine our attention to that which is now 

 best known from the personal observations of Dr. Rich- 

 ardson, and which is, in all probability, a peculiar spe- 

 cies. 



The skunk of Hudson's Bay is not an uncommon 

 animal in the district it inhabits, chiefly frequenting the 

 rocky and woody parts. In summer it feeds upon frogs 

 and mice ; but it passes the winter in a hole, seldom 

 stirring abroad, and then only for a short distance. It 

 has a slow gait, and can be overtaken without difficulty; 

 it makes, in fact, but a poor attempt to escape, appa- 

 rently trusting to its power of discomfiting its pursuers 

 by the discharge of its noisome fluid. 



The stench of this fluid is one of the most powerful 

 and disgusting in nature, and is so durable, that the 

 spot where a skunk has been killed will retain the taint 

 for many days. The liquor is contained in a small bag 

 placed at the root of the tail ; it is of a deep yellow 

 colour ; and the animal can eject it to the distance of 



