63 



tion." The discharge is not visible, ordinarily, in the daytime ; several 

 competent observers state that it has a phosphorescent glow at night. 



When the animal is pursued, it leisurely arrests its course, raises the 

 hinder parts, lifts the tail, the nipple-like eminence of the glands appear^ 

 through the anus, the constrictor muscles of the glands are contracted, 

 and the golden acrid fluid is suddenly ejected several feet upward and 

 backward in two streams. 



The scent is almost indestructible. Audubon mentions it as being 

 tolerably strong at a place where a Skunk had been killed in autumn, 

 even after the snow had disappeared the following spring. The acrid 

 discharge often renders dogs permanently blind ; there are authentic 

 cases in which men have lost their eyesight in consequence of the severe 

 inflammation induced by the fluid. It is also extremely nauseating, 

 often producing sickness of the stomach and violent vomiting. Like 

 most foul odors, it is decomposed by chloride of lime. Burying afiected 

 clothing in the earth removes the odor. That the pelt may be absolutely 

 purified of the scent, is shown by furriers disinfecting them by the same 

 processes used for the skins of Wolves, Foxes, and other Mustdidie. 



Like most carnivorous animals, the Skunk is somewhat nocturnal, 

 though often out in the daytime. In northern latitudes it hibernates 

 imperfectly, arousing itself occasionally, perhaps for the evacuation of 

 its anal pouches. In the south it ranges freely at all seasons. It some- 

 times takes up its winter dwelling oddly enough under barns or tene- 

 ments, and the cessation of its torpidity during mild periods of weather, 

 is very evident. 



Unlike other wary members of its family, it has no fear of man's abode. 

 It sometimes robs poultry, eggs, and milk, committing its depredations 

 in the most awkwardly open manner, scarcely attempting escape when 

 discovered, as though it relied upon the impenetrable atmosphere with 

 which it surrounds itself; hence it often falls a victim to its own cupid- 

 ity. Away from settlements, it makes its nest in decayed logs and 

 stumps, fence rows, crevices in rocks, or in fact any natural shelter it can 

 secure. Sometimes it excavates burrows near the surface, six or" eight 

 feet long, ending in a chamber lined with leaves, where as many as fifteen 

 are found packed together. They are more gregarious than others of the 

 family. Those in a burrow are not necessarily of the same family. 



They are extremely productive, bringing forth, in May, eight or ten 

 young. The time of gestation is probably not known. 



Were they not so stupidly reliant upon their defensive armor, and so 

 offensive, they might become too abundant ; as it is, their natural means 

 of preservation prevent their undue increase. Dogs and Wolves destro 



