24 



Grray Wolf or Timber Wolf, Canis mexicanus nubilus Say. 



An inhabitant, in early days, of all parts of the State, now al- 

 most certainly extinct within our limits. What is supposed to have 

 been the last gray wolf in West Virginia was killed in Randolph 

 county by Stofer Hamrick in January, 1900. 



Otter, Lutra catiadensis Sehreber. 



This animal although once fairly common has now almost disap- 

 peared from our State. It is still met with occasionally along some 

 of the larger mountain streams. Fur very valuable. 



Common Skunk or "Pole Cat," Mephitis mephitis putida Cuv. 



Rather abundant in all parts of the State. Found in the farm- 

 ing districts of the lower elevations and more rarely in the forests 

 of our higher mountains. I found one lying dead in a path through 

 the dense spruce woods on the siimmit of Black mountain in Octo- 

 ber, 1896. Have trapped them near the head of Williams river in 

 a forest remote from any human habitation. W^ere abundant in the 

 vicinity of Cranberry Glades in the winter of 1908-9. 



This is one of our few wild animals that is constantly variable 

 in color, ranging from almost pure white to black. It is usually 

 nocturnal in its activities but may be seen occasionally wandering 

 about in old fields in the evening before darkness has fallen. The 

 young are very pretty little creatures but they soon become unap- 

 proachable on accoimt of the disgusting odor which they emit when 

 distiirbed. 



This skunk occasionally raids poultry roosts and does some dam- 

 age also by robbing the nests of ground-dwelling birds. These in- 

 juries are more than compensated for, however, by the value of its 

 fur and by its destruction of noxious insects. At some seasons of 

 the year its chief food, in farming districts, consists of white grubs. 

 May beetles, crickets, grasshoppers and other insects that it finds 

 about the surface of the ground. In the summer and fall of 1909 

 skunks dug out and destroyed innumerable underground nests of 

 one of the common yellow jackets, {Vespa vulg aviso) , in the central 

 and western sections of the State. 



