VIII THE SKUNK, CALMLY CONSIDERED 231 
as it would a little garter-snake. This angered the 
snake, and, turning like lightning, he wrapped 
himself about the skunk, completely encircling 
both neck and body. The head was so far free 
that the skunk could give the snake nip after nip, 
though it could not get a strong enough hold to 
disable it. Rolling over and over, hissing and 
snapping, the snake nearly concealed by the long 
hair of the skunk, the two creatures presented a 
strange spectacle as they struggled, the one to 
conquer, the other to escape. After watching 
them for fully five minutes, I ventured to approach, 
and dealt the two a hard blow with a club, and 
then ran back a few paces, not knowing what 
might be the result. Turning about, I ventured 
to return part of the way, to see whether the 
struggle continued. All was comparatively quiet, 
and coming still nearer, I found that the snake had 
relinquished his hold, and was slowly retiring in 
a disabled condition. The skunk was lying quite 
motionless, and proved to be dying, though not 
dead. Soon after, I examined the animal carefully, 
and found that it had been strangled or nearly so. 
During this combat there was no discharge of the 
defensive glands of the skunk.” 
Unfortunately the skunk has also a strong taste 
for birds and birds’ eggs, and undoubtedly de- 
stroys large numbers of the eggs and young of 
ground-nesting birds: it digs up and eats snakes’ 
and tortoises’ eggs. Dr. J. K. Lord, whose book 
