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106 to when he stood between it and its destination; writes Thoreau: "Saw a little skunk coming up the river bank in the woods by the white oaks. A funny little fellow about six inches long and nearly as broad. It faced me and actually compelled me to retreat before it for five minutes. Perhaps I was between it and its hole. Its broad, black tail, tipped with white, was erect like a kitten's.

"It raised its back, sometimes ran a few feet forward and a few feet backwards and repeatedly turned its tail to me, prepared to discharge its fluid like the old ones. Such was its instinct and all the while it kept up a fine grunting like a little pig or a red squirrel."

The Skunk is fearless and calm in the face of danger. He is a splendid digger and can burrow out of sight in a jiffy. His "artillery" is his chief weapon of defence. That musky secretion is most painful when coming in contact with the eyes and face. Dogs howl in agony when hit with it. All the Mustelidæ have a musky smell, the mink being equal to the skunk in this respect. In the far Northeast, he is known as the "essence