vint THE SKUNK, CALMLY CONSIDERED 237 
that in most cases would give the artillerist no 
opportunity to wheel into “action front’; and, 
furthermore, it appears that when a close and 
sudden combat occurs, as in the tussle with the 
snake witnessed by Dr. Abbott, or such a fight 
over spoil and right of way as would occur in 
a burrow between two rival skunks or a com- 
peting mink or badger, —a regular teeth-and-toe- 
nail scrimmage,—the anal glands are not dis- 
charged. A similar restraint would, no doubt, in 
most cases attend the fierce and sudden swoop 
of an owl, hawk, or eagle, ——birds that cause the 
death of many a skunk and conepate. If, as is 
true, a comparatively slight blow across the small 
of the back will paralyze and render powerless 
the whole hind quarters of the animal, including 
the gland-muscles, the deadly clutch of a heavy 
bird’s talons are likely to have a similar effect. 
If the skunk has not judgment enough to let a 
big black snake alone, as we have seen, probably 
he must often (especially in the West) tackle a 
rattlesnake or copperhead, whose prompt turn 
and poisonous stroke could hardly be prevented 
by any discharge of the glandular liquid. 
(This suggests a parenthetical note to show how 
these two creatures must sometimes encounter one 
another under undesired circumstances. The rat- 
tling of the crotalus is wonderfully similar to that 
of a grasshopper, —the skunk’s favorite tidbit; 
and that animal may occasionally be deceived into 
