220 , WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 
effective, species of their own. As to details he 
is indifferent, — forest or prairie, open plain or 
rugged mountain, seeming all the same to his 
catholic taste in geography. If he exercises any 
preference, it is for high, dry, rocky situations for 
his particular residence, as opposed to waterside 
haunts chosen by his cousin the mink; in this 
respect he inclines more to the ways of the badger, 
to which he is so closely allied. Almost every- 
where, moreover, he is seen in greater numbers 
around settlements and camps than in the utter 
wilderness; and there are few rural districts where 
this animal is probably not quite as numerous 
to-day as he was a century or two centuries ago. 
It is equally indifferent to climate. The snows 
‘of the North, the rainy districts of Puget Sound, 
the Atlantic coast and Alaska, the aridity of the 
high plains, are borne with equal patience; and 
everywhere it is resident. It never runs: away 
from bad weather, any more than from sentient 
enemies. In the far North, it hibernates several 
months; on the Canadian border, this hiemal 
slumber lasts only for some weeks, with more 
or less frequent emergences during intervals of 
moderation; in the central and southerly parts 
of the United States, it does not “hole up” at 
all. The Canadian Indians called March the 
“skunk moon,” because then the animal began 
to appear in some numbers, as they knew by 
the frequency of his diagonally placed footprints 
