folk, they uaturally object ; but the unwelcome 

 visitor, like Tar Baby, says nothing ; simply 

 gives his host the privilege of remaining in 

 his own house if he chooses. He chooses to 

 go, of course, and the easy-minded interloper 

 settles down comfortably at home. But it is not 

 long before a second wanderer chances upon this 

 hole, and, without thanks or leave, shares the 

 burrow with the first. This often goes on until 

 the den is crowded— until some farmer's boy digs 

 out a round half-dozen. 



From such a lair as headquarters the skunks 

 forage at night, each making off alone to a fa- 

 vorite haunt, and returning before daybreak for 

 safety and sleep. But a peculiar thing about 

 these lodges, as about the family den in the ra- 

 vine, is their freedom from the hateful musk. 

 One rarely detects any odor about a skunk's 

 burrow. I had been within twenty feet of this 

 one on the island most of the afternoon and had 

 not known it. How are a number of skunks 

 living in a single burrow for weeks able to keep 

 it sweet, when one of them, by simply passing 

 through a ten-acre field of blossoming clover, will 

 make it unendurable 1 It certainly speaks well 

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