53 
tion.” The discharge is not visible, ordinarily, in the daytime; several 
competent observers state that it has a phosphorescent glow at night. 
When the animal is pursued, it leisurely arrests its course, raises the 
hinder parts, lifts the tail, the nipple-like eminence of the glands appears 
through the anus, the constrictor muscles of the glands are contracted, 
and the golden acrid fluid is suddenly ejected several feet upward and 
backward in two streams. 
The scent is almost indestructible. Audubon mentions it as being 
tolerably strong at a place where a Skunk had been killed in autumn, 
even after the snow had disappeared the following spring. The acrid 
discharge often renders dogs permanently blind; there are authentic 
cases in which men have lost their eyesight in consequence of the severe 
inflammation induced by the fluid. It is also extremely nauseating, 
often producing sickness of the stomach and violent vomiting. Like 
most foul odors, it is decomposed by chloride of lime. Burying affected 
clothing in the earth removes the odor. That the pelt may be absolutely 
purified of the scent, is shown by furriers disinfecting them by the same 
processes used for the skins of Wolves, Foxes, and other Mustelide. 
Like most carnivorous animals, the Skunk is somewhat nocturnal, 
though often out in the daytime. In northern latitudes it hibernates 
imperfectly, arousing itself occasionally, perhaps for the evacuation of 
its anal pouches. In the south it ranges freely at all seasons. It some- 
times takes up its winter dwelling oddly enough under barns or tene- 
ments, and the cessation of its torpidity during mild periods of weather, 
is very evident. 
Unlike other wary members of its family, it has no fear of man’s abode, 
It sometimes robs poultry, eggs, and milk, committing its depredations 
in the most awkwardly open manner, scarcely attempting escape when 
discovered, as though it relied upon the impenetrable atmosphere with 
which it surrounds itself; hence it often fails a victim to its own cupid- 
ity. Away from settlements, it makes its nest in decayed logs and 
stumps, fence rows, crevices in rocks, or in fact any natural shelter it can 
secure. Sometimes it excavates burrows near the surface, six or eight 
feet long, ending in a chamber lined with leaves, where as many as fifteen 
_are found packed together. They are more gregarious than others of the 
family. Those in a burrow are not necessarily of the same family. 
They are extremely productive, bringing forth, in May, eight or ten 
young. The time of gestation is probably not known. 
Were they not so stupidly reliant upon their defensive armor, and so 
offensive, they might become too abundant; as it is, their natural means 
of preservation prevent their undue increase. Dogs and Wolves destro 
