INTRODUCING MR. AND MRS. SKUNK 37 
At one point they apparently defended them- 
selves. Coyote tracks behind a log within ten 
feet of them, their own tracks showing an atti- 
tude of defense, and a wild leap and retreat of 
the coyote—this was the story in the snow. 
The majority of my lively skunk experiences 
were the result of my trying to get more closely 
acquainted with him. On a number of occa- 
sions, however, I was an innocent bystander 
while some other person had the experience. 
Then through years of outdoor life I have known 
skunks to do numerous things of interest in which 
skunk character and not skunk scent was the 
centre of interest. 
During a night of flooding rain a mother 
skunk and five tiny skunkies came into the 
kitchen, of a family with whom I was tempo- 
rarily staying. They probably had been drowned 
out. Mother skunk was killed and the little 
ones thrown out the window to die. But father 
skunk still lived. The next evening when I 
went in search of the young ones, as I stood 
looking about, father skunk walked into a bunch 
_ of grass and lifted a little skunk out. Taking 
mouth hold on the back of its neck he carried it 
a few feet, laid it down, and then picked up 
another little skunk with it. With the two 
youngsters hanging from this mouth hold he 
carried them off into the woods. 
