TTFK (!()MM()N Olf KASTKUN SKI'NK. 



dose mat of short blue ormss, ;ii)|)ai'('ntl y Ix'in^ M])le to inako a holo 

 into the liard earth with its snout alone, although it used both 

 elaws and teeth to work deeper when neeessary. I could not see 

 what it was eating, but grubs and other insect larvae were prob- 

 ably abundant there. When I clap[)ed niy hands and shouted, it 

 turned and went slowly back to the sinkhole, standing in the en- 

 trance a moment and then retreating further when I threatened it 

 again. 



Had I ventured to strike at it with a club I might have had the 

 whole story of its activities and mode of defense — but I preferred 

 to omit the final chapter. 



Insects constitute a large part of the food of these animals. 

 In the tobacco growing region of the State they are indefatigable 

 in their search for tobacco worms. Unfortunately, they are so 

 clumsy that they break more leaves from the tobacco to get one 

 worm than a dozens worms v\^ould eat in an entire summer. But 

 they destroy cutworms in the cornfields and grasshoppers in the 

 meadows without causing damage there. Besides insects, they eat 

 mice, snakes, lizards, frogs, young birds and birds' eggs, as well 

 as some vegetable matter. Sometimes they raid a poultry yard, but 

 this does not happen often nor do they destroy many birds. 



Their means of defense is one of the most effective ever devised 

 by nature, and no animal likes to brave their malodorous dis- 

 charge, although some of the larger carnivores will do so when 

 driven by hunger. The smell of the skunk is very penetrating and 

 very enduring. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the urine, and 

 never enters the bladder, but is secreted by a pair of glands lying 

 along the rectum and is dscharged from them through the anus. 



Skunks have come to rely implicitly on this fetid discharge for 

 protection, and will not get out of their way for any animal, large or 

 small. I have known a horse, ridden by a man, to stumble over one 

 in the road, and the skunk came off with the least damage. I 

 have also heard a true story of a young German farmer, who had 

 not yet become acquainted with our animals, attempting to pick 

 up one of these pretty ''cats" to take home as a pet for his chil- 

 dren. The skunk allowed him to place his hands on it out in the 

 open field, but he decided not to take it home to the children. The 

 fearless little brutes like to make their homes near a human dwell- 

 ing, and it is said that a family of them was found residing under 

 the front veranda of one of Indiana's most noted college presidents. 



On account of their sluggishness, due principally to immunity 

 from danger, they have been compelled to resort to an insect diet, 



