The Skunk 35 



while on his way to " Slabsides " one morning. Said Mr. 

 Burroughs : " I was on my way up the hill when I saw a 

 skunk slowly coming toward me, and I thought, now 

 I will have some fun with that skunk. I collected a 

 few stones and as he approached hurled two or three 

 toward him, but he seemed not to heed them in the 

 least. By this time he was coming quite rapidly for 

 a skunk, and waving his tail from side to side as 

 much as to say, 'Two can play at this game.' He 

 was dangerously near. I had not only to give him 

 the right of way, but he actually followed me for a 

 short distance." 



I once had a similar meeting with a skunk. It was 

 near sunset, as I was passing along the foot of Hall's 

 Hill in the town of Columbus, New York State, when 

 I discovered the partially bleached skeleton of a cow 

 near some bushes. Evidently the carcass had been 

 left there late in the winter or early spring. This 

 attraction, together with the surroundings, offered an 

 ideal situation for skunks. About one hundred feet 

 from the carcass, and extending up the hill, was a 

 fence the greater part of which was heavily fringed 

 with bushes. I entered the bushes quietly and saw, 

 about thirty feet away, what appeared to be a wood- 

 chuck's burrow. I was about to step forward, when 

 a full-grown skunk emerged from the burrow and began 



