230 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP, 
fox, or badger, which makes short work of poor 
bunny, and, I hope, is properly grateful to the 
providence that thus sends a meal home in its 
original package. : 
Reptiles, also, form a share of the skunk’s sub- 
sistence, — toads, frogs, salmanders, serpents, and 
the like. Dr. Abbott says that the skunks in New 
Jersey are very partial to the last-named. ‘When 
pressed by hunger, and hunting by daylight,” he 
tells us, in his ‘‘ Rambles about Home,” the skunk 
prefers to go after snakes rather than to seek 
frogs or risk himself within the poultry-yard. 
“Indeed, small snakes are evidently a great 
dainty, and the skunk appears to be more active 
when he finds a garter-snake, blind-worm, or flat- 
head adder, than at any other time. Having dis- 
covered a snake, he rises upon his hind feet, and, 
giving a bear-like apology for a dance, he endeav- 
ors to seize the snake by the tail. If successful, 
he shakes the snake vigorously, as a dog would do, 
and seizing it, when dead or nearly so, he carries 
it off to his burrow, or to a hollow log, or to what- 
ever shelter he has at the time.” 
Of this behavior Dr. Abbott cites the following 
remarkable instance: 
“In June, 1863, I witnessed a terrific combat be- 
tween a large skunk and a black snake, which, I 
judge, measured fully five feet in length. The 
prowling skunk had evidently seized the snake by 
the tail, and endeavored to give it a violent shake, 
