VIII THE SKUNK, CALMLY CONSIDERED 245 
sylvania. In several localities, in fact, large en. 
closures have been set apart for the breeding and 
rearing of these animals for profit, such places 
being known as “skunkeries.” No animal is more 
easily trapped. He seems to be stupid beyond 
belief in this respect, and will walk into a deadfall, 
or step into a spring-trap or get himself caught in 
almost any simple device that most animals would 
simply laugh at. One favorite trick is to climb 
into a barrel that he knows or fancies contains 
something good to eat, without heeding that he 
cannot climb out again. Merriam says that a 
steel trap, set at the mouth of an inhabited burrow 
will often capture the entire family at the rate of 
one a night. “In winter half a dozen or more 
may sometimes be taken in a single night, in the 
following manner: the hunter treads a narrow 
path in the snow, leading from the mouth of the 
hole away in the direction of some favorite resort, 
and, at intervals along this path, the traps are set 
in the snow. At nightfall, when the skunks come 
out, they march, single file, down the path, the 
mother usually taking the lead. The head one is 
generally caught in the first trap, and the others 
climb over the resulting obstruction, and move on 
till a second is taken, and a third, and so on.” 
The flesh is edible. Not only were the Indians 
everywhere fond of it, but most white men, who 
have been able to forget the associations of the 
name, agree that the flesh is white, tender, juicy, 
