Nov. 26, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
851 
“Did they follow the trail of your deer be¬ 
yond where you shot it down and finally stop?’’ 
“Yes,” he answered. 
“Whereabouts did you last hear them?” I ques¬ 
tioned. 
“Out this way,” and he led me through the 
thicket into a scattering growth of gums and 
pines standing in wet marshy ground. 
“About here, was it?” I still questioned. 
“Yes, somewhere about here is the place 
where the dogs last gave tongue.” 
“Then your deer is close by,” and it was not 
two minutes before G. found him stone dead, 
and with one of the dogs still by the body. It 
lay in a muddy deer path, flat on its belly, and 
was not visible a few feet away. 
Then it dawned on us that we had an old- 
fashioned carry before us once more, though 
this time with a much smaller animal than the 
big buck of a few days before. I cut the pole, 
cleaned the deer and swung him up as described 
before in the pole method of carrying, but it 
was weary work, and we made a good many 
rests before the end of the trail was reached. 
This time I took off my shirt and used it for a 
shoulder pad, as my shoulders were getting 
somewhat bruised up from former experiences 
of this kind. We all feared that M. might have 
another deer, and if he had I think some of us 
would have laid down and wept. But he had 
none. His deer had only given him a quick 
snap shot at rather long range and had gone off 
unharmed. G.’s deer made five within the week, 
all killed cleanly and with no suffering cripples 
on our consciences. Everything hit, so far as 
we could tell-—and we used every effort to find 
out—had been killed, and there is quite a satis¬ 
faction in that. 
We finally decided, as there was no wagon 
available that day, and the auto could not get 
very far into the woods by reason of the soft¬ 
ness of the ground, to finish butchering our game 
at the end of the wagon trail. So we hung him 
on a bent down sapling, and there skinned him 
out and cut the carcass into more portable shape. 
The auto’s honk was unexpectedly heard a little 
later and Mr. D. picked up a mighty tired and 
thankful bunch with their game and took us 
over the last lap into camp. 
The afternoon was spent in resting up and 
making preparations for leaving camp in the 
morning. That night we had lots of good ex¬ 
periences to talk over. Guns were cleaned and 
packed after their individual merits had been 
exploited and criticised. Sights were discussed. 
One man swore by this and another by that. 
Peep, elkhorn, notched bar, folding leaf, ivory 
bead, ivory hunting, gold bead, reversible—all 
had their adherents, and all sorts of combina¬ 
tions of front and rear. But why go on ? All 
of you know how it is—all who have ever hit 
the long trail; who have ever looked through 
any kind of sight at all at real game. And rifles. 
There are quite a number of different styles and 
makes in use at this camp, from thirty-fives and 
three-fifty-ones to seven-millimeter and twenty- 
five-thirty-five, the latter in both magazine and 
autoloading. I myself like these small bores and 
have found them heavy enough for deer and 
’gator, the only large game I have had oppor¬ 
tunity of trying them on. 
Bed time came at last, and then the morning 
parting as we left for our respective homes. 
This parting and leaving camp I do not like to 
dwell on. It is too much like pulling teeth. 
The Skunk. 
Atlantic, Iowa, Nov. 12.-— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Although a number of species of skunks 
are now recognized, based on minor differences, 
the casual observer knows only two: the large 
THE CAPTIVE SKUNKS. 
striped fellow (Mephitis mephitica of most 
authors) and the little spotted one (Spilogale 
interrupta or allied forms), commonly called 
polecat or civet. The two animals are of simi¬ 
lar habits, although there is considerable differ¬ 
ence in size and markings. Both are black as 
Egyptian darkness, relieved by markings of pure 
white, or, in some cases, yellowish white. The 
larger animal has two white stripes along the 
sides, which unite behind the head, making a V. 
There is also a white line between the eyes and 
a mixture of black and white in the tail. With 
the smaller kind there is a row of white spots 
on each side instead of the stripe. 
For several months past I have been observ¬ 
ing some skunks in confinement, and have been 
surprised at the wide range of articles readily 
accepted as food by these animals. The skunk 
is, of course, a carnivorous animal, and as such 
has a very unsavory reputation among poultry 
keepers. In fact, people generally seem to re¬ 
gard the skunk as an animal without redeeming 
qualities. That they do eat poultry is of course 
unquestioned. I myself have a mounted speci¬ 
men in my collection that killed thirty chickens 
for a neighbor in one night, and was then shot 
in the midst of his victims. Such instances are, 
I am glad to say, comparatively rare, and I be¬ 
lieve it safe to say that poultry-killing skunks 
are not more common than poultry-killing cats. 
The captive skunks above mentioned have been 
given a great variety of food in order to learn 
what their natural preferences might be. As a 
result of several months’ observation I have ar¬ 
rived at the conclusion that under normal con¬ 
ditions they live principally on mice and insects, 
and that the poultry-killing habit is only formed 
in times of short supply of the preferred food. 
The animals under consideration are kept with¬ 
in a wire pen, where they have dug their own 
burrow and live as naturally as possible in con¬ 
finement. They are particularly active at night, 
although often moving about in the day time. 
I have spent considerable time with them bj 
moonlight, not only early in the evening, but at 
various hours before dawn. . 
While ordinarily clumsy and awkward in their 
movements, they are very quick to strike down 
any flying insect that comes within reach. Any 
small animal, such as a mouse, is also instantly 
seized, but to my surprise they showed no ani¬ 
mosity toward a bantam pullet, and would even 
eat out of the same dish with a hen, as shown 
in the picture. A hen was confined with them 
in the pen for a time with the same result, even 
DINNER FOR TWO. 
though she was left in after nightfall. A full 
grown crow was also tried, and left in the in¬ 
closure with no roosting place for twenty-four 
hours without seemingly attracting any further 
attention from the animals than an occasional 
sniff. After being left there the second even¬ 
ing, however, the skunks at last attacked the 
bird, and it had to be removed from the pen. 
The different manner exhibited toward the 
bantam pullet, not half their size, and any small 
animal or insect, leads me to the conclusion that 
the natural food is small animals and insects, 
