MEPHITIS MEPHITICA. gl 



too fast he will elevate his tail, present his rear, and assume an un- 

 comfortably suspicious attitude. Give him a little time and he will 

 about-face and peer at you again with his little keen black eyes. 

 Now advance a litde nearer and be sure of your aim; and when you 

 strike, strike hard. The main thing is to keep cool and not strike 

 too soon. On receiving the blow his hinder parts settle helplessly 

 upon the ground, and the tail, which was carried high over the back, 

 now straightens out behind, limp and powerless. As a rule the 

 head soon droops and the animal expires. If he does not die directly 

 he is easily dispatched, being effectually disarmed. The common 

 causes of failure, in this mode of killinof. arc two: ist, in usin<r too 

 long a pole, and consequendy striking when so far off that the beast 

 has time to jump forward (in attempting to dodge the blow) and is 

 hit too far aft — often on the tail; and 2d, in not strikino- hard enough 

 to break the back. When properly done this method never fails, and 

 it is the safest, surest, and simplest way to kill a Skunk without oc- 

 casioning a discharge from his battery. I speak with some confi- 

 dence on this point, having myself killed upwards of an hundred 

 Skunks in the manner above recommended. Out of this number 

 were six failures, due to the causes above specified. 



It has been asserted, on high authority, that if the Skunk is shot 

 in a vital part he will die without discharging his scent. This is an 

 error, as I have demonstrated repeatedly to my entire satisfaction. 

 I have put the muzzle of my double-barrelled shot-gun within a foot 

 from the head of a Skunk, that was in a steel-trap, and literally blown 

 his whole head off; under similar circumstances have I tried the ef- 

 fect of both shot and ball upon his heart and lungs; and further, on 

 one occasion, I severed the head from the body with one blow from 

 a sharp axe, and in each instance was the death struggle accompanied 

 by a discharge of the scent. These remarks may seem to conflict 

 with the writings of Audubon and Bachman, who state : "We had 

 one of their burrows opened to within a foot of the extremity, where 

 the animals were huddled together. Placing ourselves a few yards 



