156 
CARNIVORA. 
female. The hairs are long in the tail : two thirds, 
from their root upwards, they are white ; the re- 
maining third of each hair is black. 
These mephitic animals are very clumsy, and not 
nearly so active as their congeners 5 whence a certain 
awkwardness, resulting from their make, is very 
probably the cause of their being provided with their 
singular mode of defence; and thus, as their means 
of flight are limited, nature has supplied them with 
powers the most effectual, not merely for self-defence 
and preservation, but also for actual annoyance. It 
is a known fact, that young and sporting dogs, un- 
acquainted with their quality, sometimes pounce 
upon them ; but the dash of fetid liquid in their nose 
instantly forces them to quit the animal: they then 
dig, with miserable whinings, in the earth, rub their 
noses into it, and scratch themselves so violently at 
the same time, as to produce considerable bleeding. 
They are seldom appeased till exhausted with fa- 
tigue, and never will pursue a second of the same 
species. Washing and baking clothes is insufficient; 
and Mr. Skidder, the owner of the New York Mu- 
seum (as Major Smith informs me), had a set of 
clothes spoilt, which, after washing, were hung upon 
the roof of his house, full fifty feet high, and yet 
could be very distinctly smelt some distance off in 
the streets, or the square near the house. On one 
occasion, as Major Smith was travelling by the coach, 
the vehicle gained upon a skunk, which was at- 
tempting to get through a fence, which any other 
species would have passed in a moment : not sue- 
