120 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



along in the erratic manner usual to that odorifer- 

 ous quadruped ;" following it at a very short 

 distance was an eagle-vulture, evidently bent on mis- 

 chief. Every time the bird came near the bushy 

 tail rose menacingly ; then the carancho would fall 

 behind, and, after a few moments' hesitation, follow 

 on again. At length, growing bolder, it sprung 

 forward, seizing the threatening tail with its claw, 

 but immediately after " began staggering about with 

 dishevelled plumage, tearful eyes, and a profoundly 

 woe-begone expression on its vulture face. The 

 skunk, after turning and regarding its victim with 

 an I-told-you-so look for a few moments, trotted 

 unconcernedly off." 



I was told in Patagonia by a man named Molinos, 

 who was frequently employed by the Government as 

 guide to expeditions in the desert, that everywhere 

 throughout that country the skunk is abundant. 

 Some years ago he was sent with two other men to 

 find and treat with an Indian chief whose where- 

 abouts were not known. Far in the interior Molinos 

 was overtaken by a severe winter, his horses died of 

 thirst and fatigue, and during the three bitterest 

 months of the year he kept himself and his followers 

 alive by eating the flesh of skunks, the only wild 

 animal that never failed them. No doubt, on those 

 vast sterile plains where the skunk abounds, and 

 goes about by day and by night careless of enemies, 

 the terrible nature of its defensive weapon is the 

 first lesson experience teaches to every young eagle, 

 fox, wild cat, and puma. 



Dogs kill skunks when made to do so, but it is 

 not a sport they delight in. One moonlight night, 



