Racoon.
American Pole-Cat.
[[273]]
There is a certain quadruped which is pretty common not only in Pensylvania, but likewise in other provinces both of South and North America, and goes by the name of Polecat among the English. In New York they generally call it Skunk. The Swedes here by way of nickname called it Fiskatta, on account of the horrid stench it sometimes causes as I shall presently show. The French in Canada, for the same reason call it Bête puante or stinking animal, and Enfant du diable or child of the devil. Some of them likewise call it Pekan: Catesby in his Natural History of Carolina, has described it in Vol. 2. p. 62. by the name of Putorius Americanus striatus and drawn it plate 62. Dr. Linnæus calls it Viverra Putorius.[42] This animal, which is [[274]]very similar to the Marten, is of about the same size and commonly black: on the back it has a longitudinal white stripe and two others on each side, parallel to the former. Sometimes but very seldom, some are seen which are quite white. On our return to Philadelphia we saw one of these animals not far from town near a farmer’s house, killed by dogs. And afterwards I had during my stay in these parts several opportunities of seeing it and of hearing its qualities. It keeps its young ones in holes in the ground and in hollow trees; for it does not confine itself to the ground, but climbs up trees with the greatest agility: it is a great enemy to birds; for it breaks their eggs and devours their young ones; and if it can get into a hen roost it soon destroys all its inhabitants.
This animal has a particular quality by which it is principally known; when it is pursued by men or dogs it runs at first as fast as it can, or climbs upon a tree; but if it is so beset by its pursuers, as to have no other way of making its escape, it squirts its urine upon them. This according to some it does by wetting its tail with the urine whence by a sudden motion it scatters it abroad; but others believe, that it could send its urine equally far without the help of its tail; I find the former of these accounts [[275]]to be the most likely. For, some credible people assured me, that they have had their faces wetted with it all over; though they stood above eighteen feet off from the animal. The urine has so horrid a stench that nothing can equal it: it is something like that of the Cranesbill or Linnæus’s Geranium robertianum, but infinitely stronger. If you come near a polecat when it spreads its stench, you cannot breathe for a while, and it seems as if you were stifled; and in case the urine comes into the eyes, a person is likely to be blinded. Many dogs that in a chace pursue the polecat very eagerly, run away as fast as they can when they are wetted: however, if they be of the true breed, they will not give over the pursuit till they have caught and killed the polecat; but they are obliged now and then to rub their noses in the ground in order to relieve themselves.
Clothes which have been wetted by this animal retain the smell for more than a month; unless they be covered with fresh soil, and suffered to remain under it for twenty four hours together; when it will in a great measure be removed. Those likewise who have got any of this urine upon their face and hands, rub them with loose earth; and some even hold their hands in the ground for an hour; as washing will not help them [[276]]so soon. A certain man of rank who had by accident been wetted by the polecat, stunk so ill, that on going into a house, the people either ran away, or on his opening the door, rudely denied him entrance. Dogs that have hunted a polecat are so offensive for some days afterwards, that they cannot be borne in the house. At Philadelphia I once saw a great number of people on a market day throwing at a dog that was so unfortunate as to have been engaged with a polecat just before, and to carry about him the tokens of its displeasure. Persons when travelling through a forest are often troubled with the stink which this creature makes; and sometimes the air is so much infected that it is necessary to hold ones nose. If the wind blows from the place where the polecat has been, or if it be quite calm, as at night, the smell is more strong and disagreeable.
In the winter of 1749, a polecat tempted by a dead lamb, came one night near the farm house where I then slept. Being immediately pursued by some dogs, it had recourse to its usual expedient in order to get rid of them. The attempt succeeded, the dogs not choosing to continue the pursuit: the stink was so extremely great that, though I was at some distance it affected me in the same manner as if I [[277]]had been stifled; and it was so disagreeable to the cattle that it made them roar very loudly: however, by degrees it vanished. Towards the end of the same year one of these animals got into our cellar, but no stench was observed, for it only vents that when it is pursued. The cook however found for several days together that some of the meat which was kept there was eaten; and suspecting that it was done by the cat she shut up all avenues, in order to prevent their getting at it. But the next night being awoke by a noise in the cellar, she went down, and though it was quite dark, saw an animal with two shining eyes, which seemed to be all on fire; she however resolutely killed it, but not before the polecat had filled the cellar with a most dreadful stench. The maid was sick of it for several days; and all the bread, flesh, and other provisions kept in the cellar were so penetrated with it, that we could not make the least use of them, and were forced to throw them all away.
From an accident that happened at New York to one of my acquaintances, I conclude that the polecat either is not always very shy, or that it sleeps very hard at night. This man coming home out of a wood in a summer evening, thought that he saw a plant [[278]]standing before him; stooping to pluck it, he was to his cost convinced of his mistake, by being all on a sudden covered with the urine of a polecat, whose tail as it stood upright, the good man had taken for a plant: the creature had taken its revenge so effectually that he was much at a loss how to get rid of the stench.