. Cyclopedia of farm animals. Domestic animals; Animal products. Fig. 411. Skunk (Mephitis â mepkitica). gray, although this feature is occasionally wanting. The tail is tipped with white. Experiments having proved that the offspring of a pair of silver foxes are not always colored like their parents; there are those who contend that the silver is not a spe- cies but a freak. Whatever be its origin, it is the most valuable fur known after that of the sea-otter. As a rule, only a few score are taken each year in any district. The annual American output does not exceed a thousand. An exceptional
. Cyclopedia of farm animals. Domestic animals; Animal products. Fig. 411. Skunk (Mephitis â mepkitica). gray, although this feature is occasionally wanting. The tail is tipped with white. Experiments having proved that the offspring of a pair of silver foxes are not always colored like their parents; there are those who contend that the silver is not a spe- cies but a freak. Whatever be its origin, it is the most valuable fur known after that of the sea-otter. As a rule, only a few score are taken each year in any district. The annual American output does not exceed a thousand. An exceptional skin has sold as high as $2,500, but the usual price is $250 to $1,000. Foxes are by no means choice about their food. Mice, birds, hares, fish, carrion, all come alike to them, and they will even make a meal of a fellow fox if one is found dead in a trap. They are killed by hunting, by s n a r i n g, by traps, by unearth- ing and by poison- ing. The skunk (Me- phitis mepkitiea, Fig. 411) is found throughout the Dominion of Canada as far as 57 degrees north, and ranges south to Kentucky, Carolina and Ala- bama. It is about the size of a large cat, has a broad, fleshy body, wider at the hips than at the shoulders, long coarse fur and short legs. The general color is blackish brown, with white longi- tudinal stripes on the back. It is carnivorous, its prey being small birds, eggs, insects, mice, frogs and the like, and it is particularly destructive in the poultry yard. In northern regions it hibernates in winter. Although, in self-defense, capable of emitting an odor perhaps the most offensive in nature, the skunk is an exceedingly clean animal; a dozen may sometimes be concealed in a single burrow, and yet not the slightest unpleasant smell can be detected at the entrance. The flesh is eaten by the Indians and pronounced by them superior to that of the raccoon or opossum. Its fur is very much in demand for dressing and dyeing, for the production of what is known as Alaska sab
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