VIII THE SKUNK, CALMLY CONSIDERED 24I 



drop falling upon its own fur. Sometimes the 

 wind blows the liquid back ; but the animal never 

 soils itself or its companions or its bed if it can 

 avoid it. A skunk's den is as nearly odorless as 

 is that of any wild musteline animal. Moreover, 

 it seems to regard the secretion as exceedingly 

 precious, and not to be used except as a very last 

 resort. Many a dog gets a good grip before the 

 emission occurs, and under those circumstances 

 it is likely to be quite wasted. "When caught in 

 steel traps," says Merriam, "not more than one in 

 twenty will smell, and the remaining nineteen 

 suffer themselves to be tormented to an astonish- 

 ing degree before ' opening the valve.' " Men 

 who make a business of trapping and breeding 

 skunks seem to have little fear of them so long 

 as they approach them quietly and handle them 

 gently, and they know many ways of putting them 

 to death without causing a discharge. 



It seems to me, therefore, that as a weapon of 

 defence the discharge of the skunk is not as 

 unfailing and complete as has been supposed ; 

 that as many active enemies seek to kill the 

 animal, and probably succeed in killing it, as if it 

 did not have such a weapon ; that, on the other 

 hand, it sometimes serves as an advertisement of 

 its presence and leads to its discovery by enemies 

 that might otherwise overlook it ; that in resisting 

 the tactics of certain antagonists this "weapon" 

 is, as a rule, practically useless, since they keep 



