MAMMALS OF UTAH 137 



Distribution — Eastern Oregon, northern California, and 

 Nevada; east to the Wasatch mountains in Utah. Speci- 

 mens have been taken at Ogden and at Provo. 



Habits — Some animals protect themselves with sheer 

 strength, assisted by teeth and claws, some emit poisons 

 and some resort to flight, but excluding the spiny arma- 

 ment of the porcupine probably no defense is so immedi- 

 ately effective as the fetid odor thrown out by a threatened 

 skunk. It forfends the enemy as surely as the Aegis of 

 Minerva, for days and even weeks of foulness and smart 

 repay the unwise aggressor for his unprovoked attack. 



The favorite environ of the skunk is th« edge of woods 

 and marshes, where abundant food, warmth and shelter 

 can be found in the varied sunlight and shade. Its range 

 of activity is very small, seldom exceeding a radius of half 

 a mile. 



Mating in March, the skunk, which is monogamous, 

 digs its den in a dry place on a hillside, or selects an aban- 

 doned badger, muskrat, or ground squirrel burrow. Towards 

 the end of April four to ten young are born, each the size 

 of a mouse, naked, and for a few days both deaf and blind. 

 Hairless as they are even at that time the white strips 

 reveals their identity. When a month old they are capable 

 of emitting the loathsome musk. 



The food of the skunk consists of grasshoppers, crick- 

 ets, insects, mice, ground squirrels, frogs, eggs, rabbits, 

 and berries. Its enemies are few, the owls probably being 

 most feared. 



Skunk skins are worth from 25 cents to $12.00 each. 



ROCK SPOTTED SKUNK 



SPILOGALE GRACILIS SAXATILIS (Merriam) 



Spilogale saxatilis Merriam, N. A. F. No. 4, 1890, p. 13. 



Description — Size, rather large ; tail, with hairs, longer 

 than head and body. External lateral stripes nearly obso- 

 lete and barely or not continuous with anterior transverse 

 stripes. In the type specimen, an adult male, none of the 

 markings are confluent. In an old female taken at the 

 same locality and date, the internal or middle dorsal stripes 

 are narrowly confluent posteriorly with the anterior trans- 

 serse stripes, and the caudal spots meet indistinctly across 

 the base of the tail. All of the other spots and markings 



