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Show o -- , and reputation. While he may carry car-ry rabies, it is likely that the chances of being bitten by a mad Spotted Skunk are less than the chances of being attacked by a mad dog. i -tew- r rooms, and small fruits. There is no proof that he takes enough birds or fruit to be a serious menace. men-ace. The only crime of which he is accused is carrying hydrophobia, and in some parts "of the country he is known and feared as the Hydrophobia Skunk. But the truth is that experts disagree on whether wheth-er he really k deserves this name 1951 National Wildlife Federation SPOTTED SKUXK Spotted Skunks, like their strip-. strip-. ed cousins, have an unpleasant way of defending themselves j against attackers. But so long as : they are not aroused, the spotted fellows probably do more good ! than harm. The National Wildlife i Federation reports that they per-I per-I form a valuable service by eating eat-ing such destructive pests as the I grasshoppers, enkets, beetles, rats l and mice. I To catch his prey, the Spotted Skunk prowls only at night. A sure-footed hunter, he is quick to pounce on his victims, and he can go after them either on the ground i or in trees. After a night of roaming, he curls up and rests during the daylight day-light hours. His home may be in almost any. sheltered nook. Spotted Spot-ted Skunks have been found hv- J ing in the clefts of rocky ledges, in hollow stumps or logs, in holes , which they have dug in banks, in old dens abandoned by other i animals, and in natural caves. I In the out-of-the-way places j I which they have chosen for their; homes, they raise their families. i Each spring there is a litter of j j from two to ten young, which are i cared for by the mother. j When the young grow up, they ' are from eighteen to twenty-two j inches long, and their bushy tails i are seven or eight inches in length. I Their heads are small, their ears tiny, and their legs short. Altogether Alto-gether they are smaller than their striped cousins. ' The real identification mark of the Spotted Skunk, of course, is the way in which his glossy black coat is decorated with white. He has a white spot on his forehead and oblong white marks, or broken brok-en stripes, on his back and upper sides. His tail, too, may be mostly white. AH of his hair white and black is long. I Besides insects, rats and mice, j he eats small ground squirrels, J small birds and their eggs, lizards, liz-ards, salamanders, crawfish, mush I |