BADGERS AND SKUNKS 
The fullest accounts of badger life are to be found in Coues’s “Fur 
Bearers,” and in the works of Audubon,” Godman,” and Richardson; *® 
and a chapter in my “Wild Neighbors” contains a biography in which the 
animal’s traits are described and discussed at length. 
Last of the mustelines is the skunk — an animal exclusively 
American, and covering under its name many species and a 
multitude of misdemeanors. Considering diversities 
in climate and food, the habits of all are essentially 
the same. The common eastern skunk is about the size of a 
cat, but more robust, and with taller hindquarters and a 
pointed, somewhat piglike snout; this form, and the planti- 
Skunks. 
c Dae eee eae Ue oe 
THE COMMON EASTERN SKUNK. 
179 
