238 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 
running heedlessly upon a rattlesnake when it 
expected to pounce upon a grasshopper. A fight 
might ensue, and both parties might be fatally 
injured before explanations could be given; but a 
victory would be of no value to the reptile, at least, 
for no rattlesnake could get even a half-grown 
skunk down its throat. In such a situation as 
this the alleged “warning rattle” of the snake 
would become a means of attraction instead of 
repulsion, — of harm rather than benefit.) 
' There remain to be considered only foxes and 
wolves as natural enemies of the skunk, other than 
men and their dogs; and as these alone attack 
him boldly or by chase, in such a way as ordinarily 
to inform him of danger in time to defend him- 
self, it is against them mainly that his peculiar 
weapon would be of service. Now the fox is so 
knowing, so sly and sagacious, that he must be 
fully aware of what to expect, and take such pre- 
cautions against harm to himself as distinguish 
him elsewhere. He has the nature of a dog, but 
he has learned the strategy of the cat, and we are 
bound to believe, from what we know of his cun- 
ning methods in respect to other prey, that he 
takes good care to get the skunk at a disadvantage 
before he attacks it. Evidence of this is afforded 
by the experience of trappers. ‘To the fox- 
trapper,” says one intelligent writer on the subject, 
“this animal is a pest, so that most of the skunks 
of the neighborhood must be caught or got rid of 
