222 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP, 
that the hibernating animal is occasionally aroused 
from his torpidity to relieve his physical uneasiness 
in this respect. Dr. C. C. Abbott agrees with him 
as to the necessity of occasional relief, but says 
that a series of observations in 1872 led him to 
believe that this forced discharge was made by the 
skunk into a hole dug for the purpose, where it 
was carefully covered over. This strikes me as a 
credible, and, indeed, very natural example of pru- 
dence on the part of the animal (which must fully 
understand what an advertisement of its presence 
to its enemies the effluvium would be), closely com- 
parable with the covering of its excrement prac- 
tised by so many wild animals, — an act doubtless 
precautionary against pursuit. In winter, however, 
the frozen ground would prevent doing this, or, at 
any rate, prevent doing it well. Certainly skunk 
dens are rarely any more offensive to the nose than 
is the home of a weasel or marten. 
He is a persistent digger, and delights to scratch 
holes in ploughed fields, where, if he is alarmed, he 
will bury himself out of sight with amazing rapid- 
ity, and then may push his way through the light 
earth for several yards before he comes to the sur- 
face again. Another cunning trick he has, when 
trying to escape from a dog that is not right at his 
heels, is to climb upon a rail fence and walk along 
its top for a considerable distance, so as to break 
the scent of his trail; but any further climbing 
“than this seems beyond his ability, so that the 
