CONCORD 
1907 
J uly 13 
Experience 
with a 
Skunk 
As Mr. Forbush and I were walking through, the 
apple-orchard at the Farm this afternoon, we started a 
Skunk in the uncut grass. It was so tall that I could 
see only his back and the tip of his tail as he gal¬ 
loped off. He moved by a succession of long, high 
bounds and so swiftly that although I ran at my best 
speed I had not gained on him perceptibly when he reached 
the woods. The distance which he traversed in the open 
was about sixty yards,for the first half of the way over a 
gentle downward incline, for the latter half down a 
rather steep hillside. All the while he was about 
twenty yards in advance of me and running almost as fast 
as a Rabbit runs when startled but not cldsely pursued. 
4^"This experience happened at exactly half-past six o'clock 
with the sun showing from a cloudless sky. Taken in 
connection with the observation I made here last autumn, 
from my chamber window, early one morning, it convinces me 
that Skunks are at times really wary animals and that 
they can and do run much faster than is ordinarily sup¬ 
posed. These facts account, in a measure, I believe, 
for the extreme infrequency with wnich they euuu 
in places (such as this Farm) where the signs they 
leave, when digging for crickets and for turtles' eggs, 
show that they must be very numerous. They have been 
most persistent and in their quest for 
turtles' eggs near Bdl's Hill this season (chiefly in June) 
3 
