240 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 
sees them coming, he prepares to fire, and never 
fails to hit his mark. ‘The instant a dog has 
received a discharge of this kind on his nose and 
eyes, he appears half distracted, plunging his nose 
into the earth, rubbing the sides of his face on the 
leaves and grass, and rolling in every direction.” 
So says Audubon; and that skunk often goes free. 
But this authority adds that the same dogs do not 
hesitate to attack other skunks as soon after as 
they are able, and this despite severe punishments 
by their masters. Many other experiences to the 
same purport might be quoted, — for example, the 
dog of Mr. Fred Mather, long a Fish Commis- 
sioner of New York, which, driven back in his 
first attack, recovered spirit enough in a few 
minutes to rush in with streaming eyes and demol- 
ish the enemy; and which ever afterward killed 
skunks wth his eyes shut! 
As far as the mere stench is concerned, I doubt 
whether that deters any animals from attacking or 
consuming this or any other of the many animals 
noxious to ws by reason of their musky secretions. 
We must be careful not te impute to the dogs, 
wolves, etc., the mental or physical disgust we feel 
at this vile odor. The fluid itself burns their 
eyes, nostrils, and throats, but the smell is more 
likely to attract than offend them; and it is proba- 
bly the instinctive appreciation of this which leads 
the skunk to take the greatest care, by hoisting 
its tail and spreading its haunches, to prevent a 
