The Skunk is of a brown color, marked sometimes with two white stripes. The faculty this animal possesses, of annoying its enemies by the discharge of a noisome fluid, causes it to be rather shunned than hunted, which the value of its skin would otherwise be sure to occasion. The smallest drop of this fluid is sufficient to render a garment detestable for a great length of time. Washing, smoking, baking, or burying articles of dress, seems to be equally inefficient for its removal. The skunk is generally found in the forests, having its den either in the stump of an old tree, or in an excavation in the ground. It feeds on the young of birds, and upon small quadrupeds, eggs, and wild fruits. It also does much mischief in the poultry-yard.
The American Otter is about five feet in length, including the tail, the length of which is eighteen inches. The color of the whole of the body, (except the chin and throat, which are dusky white) is a glossy brown. The fur throughout is dense and fine. The differences between this species and the European otter, are thus pointed out by Captain Sabine: ‘The neck of the American otter is elongated, not short, and the head narrow and long in comparison with the short, broad visage of the European species; the ears are consequently much closer together than in the latter animal. The tail is more pointed and shorter, being considerably less than one half of the length of the body, whilst the tail of the European otter is more than half the length of its body.’ The fur of the otter is much valued by the hatters and other consumers of peltries, and this animal must ultimately become as rare in North America as the kindred species has long since become in Europe.
II. BIRDS.
The Ornithology of the United States is exceedingly rich and interesting. For their beauty of plumage, variety and melody of song, diversity ofform, habits, disposition and faculties, our birds well merit the industrious observation which has been bestowed upon them. They have been highly fortunate in their historians, for no department of our animal kingdom has been so thoroughly investigated as this; and the indefatigable labor, science and genius of such men as Wilson, Audubon, Bonaparte, and Nuttall, have left us but little to expect from future researches.
The vulture called Turkey Buzzard, is found in large numbers in the southern states, where he is protected by law, on account of his services in the removal of carrion. This bird has never been known to breed in any of the Atlantic states north of New Jersey. In the southern cities, during the winter, they pass the night on the roofs of houses, and are fond of warming themselves in the smoke that issues from the chimneys. This bird is about two and a half feet in length, and six in breadth; the upper plumage is glossed with green and bronze, the fore part of the neck is bare. The Black Vulture is smaller, and flies in flocks; the range of this bird is confined by very narrow limits to the southern states. The Condor is not uncommon in the Rocky Mountains; but his peculiar residence is among the precipitous cliffs of the majestic Andes.
The Common or Wandering Falcon lives along the seacoast of the country, and is said to breed in the cedar swamps of New Jersey. The American Sparrow Hawk is found principally in the warmer parts of the states, and builds its nest in a hollow or decayed tree, on some elevated place. In the winter it becomes familiar, and approaches to the neighborhood of man; at this time it lives on such small game as it can find in the way of mice or lizards. The flight of this bird is irregular. It perches on the top of a dead tree or pole in the middle of a field, and sits there in an almost perpendicular position for an hour together, reconnoitering the ground below in every direction for the favorite articles of its food. The bluejays have a particular antipathy to this bird, who punishes their enmity by occasionally making a meal of one of them.
American Sparrow Hawk.
The American Fish Hawk is a formidable, vigorous-winged, and well-known bird, which subsists altogether on the fishes that swarm in our baysrivers, and creeks. It is doubtless the most numerous of its genus in the United States, and besides lining our seacoast from Georgia to Canada, it penetrates far into the interior.