CONCORD 
1907 
July 15 
Another 
Skunk 
As I was walking along the river path at Ball’s Hill 
about 9.30 P. M., I started a good-sized animal from a space 
of soft sand at our landing within thirty yards of the cabin. 
Although the sky was clear and full of stars, it was so 
intensely dark under the shade of the trees that I could see 
nothing, but from the sound of the creature’s footsteps 
as CitJ moved first through some rank weeds within two yards 
of me and then up the steep leaf and twig-strewn hillside, 
I knew that it was trotting slowly and evenly with the 
steady, mincing gait so characteristic of the Skunk. When 
it reached the foot-path that leads to the chestnut cabin, 
all sounds ceased and I concluded that it had taken advan- 
i 
tage of this CtHtroadway to move still further off 
quickly and in silence. I got a lighted lantern in the 
cabin and followed the path for some distance along the 
hillside but could neither see nor hear anything more of 
the nocturnal visitor.^The next morning I found the 
sandy ground by the landing torn up everywhere by fresh 
diggings, evidently those of a Skunk. The pErsistent beast 
had not only raided several nests of the Musk Tortoise, 
scattering the eggshells about, but had also rooted up a 
number of small plants that I had set out in the sand a 
few days before. That same morning I visited some more 
plants that I had put into the ground near Pine Park shed, 
and every one of them had been recently unearthed by a 
Skunk. Apparently this creature noses out and investigates 
every place where the earth has been loosened or disturbed. 
