Concord, Massachusetts
1894
Oct 11 to
Nov.21
(No 4)
  The snow revealed the presence of several Skunks
in the Ball's Hill woods and Bensen's dog, before it
came, killed, as I now find, no less than three in
the fields near the house. Hitherto he had given these
animals wide berth, merely barking from a safe
distance when he has found one; but he has
now discovered some apparently secure way of
seizing and killing the Skunk before it can
discharge its fluid. Bensen says that he simply
rushes upon it and kills it by breaking its back
with a single vigorous shake of the jaws. He has seen
him kill one in this manner. I examined the Skunk
where it was killed and can testify that neither
it nor the ground, nor the dog gave out the
slightest odor. Two years ago I found a Skunk
which a Fox had left at the entrance to his hole
and which was wholly odorless. Its fur was wet
and matted on the back where the Fox has evidently
mouthed it. The Skunk killed by Bensen's dog had
been dragged about on wet ground and nearly
half if it had been eaten by something so that I
could not tell just when & how it had been
originally seized.
[margin]Skunks[/margin]
  There are plenty of Mice in the cabin but
they do not seem to be as destructive as they
were at first. I have trapped about half a dozen
this autumn - all White-footed Mice. Thus far
I have caught only this species and Eootomys in
the cabin. The House Mice have not found me out
yet & the Field Mice stay outside in the meadows.
[margin]Mice[/margin]