THAT FAMOUS ESSENCE PEDDLER. 171 



before one's presence. If we meet a skunk, we run ; 

 it is the liereditarj habit of a skunk from the time 

 he is born to feel sure we would run. Just so with 

 the weasel : he is apparently born with the conscious- 

 ness that the first rat he meets will shriek in terror 

 and flee for his life. But the superior mind of man 

 is more than the skunk can cope with ; consequently 

 the poor unsuspecting creature- falls not only into 

 every trap that is set for him, but into every trap set 

 for another animal ; and if there is anything exasper- 

 ating about trapping, it is the discovery of a skunk in 

 one's fox trap. Dr. Merriam relates how a number 

 of these animals can be easily captured, somewhat 

 thus : * " In winter the hunter treads down the snow 

 from the entrance of the skunk's hole into a narrow 

 path, and sets a number of steel traps at certain inter- 

 vals along the route ; at nightfall, when the mother 

 comes out the young ones follow her lead, single file, 

 down the path ; the first trap near the hole catches 

 number one; the others climb over the obstraetion 

 and move on until a second trap snaps on another ; 

 then the third trap catches still another, and so on 

 until the whole family is taken in a single night." 



* My quotations are not taken verbatim, because a slight con- 

 densation here and there became necessary to save the limited 

 amount of space at my command ; but in each case I have rigidly 

 adhered to every important point. 



