Tales of the Skunk. 
Columbus, Ohio, Feb. n.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have been greatly interested in the 
various articles in your paper relating to that 
interesting bird, the skunk and his habits. They 
awake responsive memories of the long ago, 
when I had some interesting experiences which 
are very funny to me now, but which were not 
so funny at the time. 
Many years ago I lived in a little village in 
Wisconsin. I had a friend about my age whose 
father’s farm was situated half a mile outside 
the corporate limits of the village find I fre¬ 
quently went home with him to spend the night. 
One evening at the supper table his mother 
said, “There’s something killing my chickens and 
eating the eggs. I wish you boys could get 
that old box trap in the barn and set it.” I 
said nothing, but after supper was over I went 
out and got tfye trap, put a new string in it, 
baited it with the head of a chicken, and set it 
near the hen house. 
Next morning I awoke at daylight and at once 
thinking of mV trap went to the window and 
looked out. The trap was sprung. I thought 
I would not disturb the folks at that time of 
the day, but would go down and get the animal 
out, whatever it might be, and surprise all hands 
at. the breakfast table with my capture. Ac¬ 
cordingly I put on my clothes, which by the 
way, consisted of a brand new blue flannel suit, 
felt my way down stairs and out to the trap. 
When I peeped in through the hole in the 
top I saw at once that I had caught a most 
beautiful little animal, black as jet, with a white 
stripe along his side. Of course I recognized 
it, and began to wonder what I was going to 
do with it. Old mephitis seemed perfectly at 
home and peaceable, looked up at me through 
the hole and wiggled his nose very sociably, but 
I had my suspicions. I could not afford to let 
him go, but how to kill him I did not know. 
Finally I hit upon the most foolish expedient 
that a boy ever did. I knew he would not “let 
go’’ unless I disturbed him. 
Leaning against the hen house was a spade 
which the hired man had ground, as sharp as 
a spade could be ground, for the purpose of cut¬ 
ting roots when grubbing out second growth 
timber. This I took with me and with the trap 
carried gently under my arm, went up to the 
orchard. My plan was to set the trap down, 
lift up the lid, and when my friend stuck his 
head out, cut it off with the spade. Accord¬ 
ingly I set the trap down carefully, straddled it 
and lifted the lid just about three inches. The 
skunk seemed perfectly contented, and in no 
hurry to come out of his new quarters, but 
finally he put his head out and looked up at me 
with his little black eyes. Down came the spade 
on his neck and about the same instant there 
was something doing in that box. 
Great Scott! Talk about your San Juan Hill 
or Gettysburg with their clouds of smoke and 
sulphurous gases. They were nothing compared 
to the engagement I found myself involved in. 
Tffe atmosphere surrounding me would have 
stopped a town clock. I could not breathe. The 
tears ran out of my eyes and I was, to say the 
least, very much embarrassed. However, as he 
had thus basely betrayed my confidence I was 
bound to put his distillery out of commission if 
I had to stay there all summer, so with stream¬ 
ing eyes I rode on that spade until his light 
went out. 
When I got back to the house the folks were 
just getting up and they smelt me when I was 
coming in the gate. Such a time. They threw 
some old clothes out of the window for me and 
I went out to the barn and dressed. There was 
a healthy flavor about my person, you may be 
sure, but the folks let me in and accustomed 
themselves to it. My new blue flannel suit was 
ruined and it was a long time before I heard 
the last of my peep o’ day engagement with a 
skunk. If he withheld any of his scent as some- 
of your correspondents say he can, I did not 
notice it at the time. J- J- B. 
Biloxi, Miss., Feb. 5.— Editor forest and 
Stream: When I was a boy a skunk was dis¬ 
covered in the cellar under the house. My 
father moved things away from the box behind 
which it was resting, being very careful to make 
as little disturbance as possible, and when the 
way was clear, he picked up the skunk by the 
tail and carried it away from the house with 
no suggestion of odor. I, myself, have caught 
three skunks in that manner, and had no trouble 
with them. In the instance quoted by Mr. 
Spears, it should be noted that the animal had 
been seized by the dog before making trouble. 
Once when I had a live skunk by the tail, I 
•handed it to a companion—now a grave pro¬ 
fessor in an Eastern university—to hold while 
I hunted for a club to kill it with. My friend 
was more kindhearted than I, and thinking the 
skunk must be in a very uncomfortable position, 
he allowed it to rest its fore feet on the ground 
instead of holding it clear. I shall never forget 
the unkind remarks which followed immediately. 
Those who are familiar with skunks know 
that they are absolutely without fear of man, 
and that they have great curiosity. More than 
once I have induced them to follow me several 
rods until I could get them where I wanted to 
kill them, and twice they have come up within 
a foot of me when I have been sitting still. If 
one will move about slowly and quietly, always 
edging a little closer, the skunk will usually 
stand facing him with its tail either erect or 
curved over its back in just the position for 
reaching over and grasping it quickly. The 
skunks do not need to be “trained” as Mr. Mc- 
Candless suggests, for the trick can be done 
with the common or garden variety with little 
difficulty or danger. The only essential things 
are to move slowly, and when the skunk is 
grasped, to hold it perfectly free from anything 
which it can reach with its feet or teeth. ' 
S. M. Tracy. 
Curious Old Prints. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Russell Wood¬ 
ward, of Elizabeth, N. J., we are permitted 
this week to print two curious and interesting 
old prints from de Brie. 
One of the earliest books of travel printed 
is that of Theodore de Brie, which was known 
as “Collectiones Perigrinationum in Indiam 
Orientalem et Occidentalem” (Frankfort-011- 
the-Main, 1590). De Brie was a goldsmith, 
engraver and painter, who in 1570 established 
a printing and engraving house at Frankfort-on- 
the-Main. Here he gave to the world many 
books which he and his two sons illustrated. 
The most famous of these is the one above 
named. We have more than once printed re¬ 
productions of de Brie’s illustrations of the 
Florida Indians, but he did not confine himself 
to America, for as the title of the book goes, it 
was East India as well as West, or the India 
of the new world. 
Of these prints the first is perhaps the earliest 
picture ever made of the practice so well known 
in the Orient, of using cormorants to catch fish. 
In parts of China these birds to-day are trained 
to fish for their owners, and the practice has 
often been described. In rare instances white 
men have taught cormorants this lesson and 
many years ago a correspondent of Forest and 
Stream described a team of tame cormorants 
which he had possessed. 
The Latin legend under the engraving may 
be very roughly translated somewhat as fol¬ 
lows : “Happy India has a bird after the fashion 
of a goose, which when its gullet is made nar¬ 
row by a string around the neck, knows how 
to capture fishes. It is taught by the Indians 
not to swallow them, but to bring them to the 
adjacent shore, to disgorge them and thus to 
collect food.” 
The second print tells of the capture by the 
Emperor Claudius of a whale at Ostia in south¬ 
ern Italy, and of the spectacle furnished to the 
Roman populace by battles between the levia¬ 
than and the soldiers. 
A rough translation of the legend would be 
somewhat as follows: “A whale becomes 
stranded on the point of Ostia. Claudius in¬ 
closes the shore with nets and barriers. The 
soldiery often fight the whale from boats. The 
joyful Roman citizens watch this spectacle.” 
Ruffed Grouse and Lynx. 
Cornwall Bridge, Feb. 5. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: A farmer in Sharon, Conn., recently 
saw what he supposed were tracks of a lynx, 
and following them across an old brush pasture 
he found where the lynx had eaten four .par¬ 
tridges. 
I saw eight deer here at one time during the 
winter and five on another day, about five or 
six weeks ago. F. A. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
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