STRIPED SKUNK. Mephitis occidentalis Baird

Field characters.—Size of adult about that of domestic cat; tail nearly as long as head and body and very bushy. Head and body 12-1/2 to 17-1/4 inches (318-440 mm.), tail 11 to 13-1/2 inches (280-345 mm.), ear about 3/4 inch (15-20 mm.), weight 3-1/3 to 8-1/3 pounds (1.5-3.8 kg.). Coloration black except for a narrow line of white up middle of forehead, and a white area beginning on hind neck and continuing backwards, dividing into two stripes which extend to rump and usually run out on either side of tail; more or less white also on bases of tail hairs. 'Skunky' odor characteristic.

Occurrence.—Common resident at lower altitudes on both slopes of Sierra Nevada. Recorded on west slope from Snelling and Lagrange eastward to Sweetwater Creek, Yosemite Valley, and Chinquapin; east of mountains in vicinity of Williams Butte. Lives in holes in ground and in culverts and under rocks and buildings; forages far and wide at dusk and during night.

The Striped Skunk needs no introduction. It has long been sought after because of its valuable fur, and it is also well known in the environment of farms even in settled portions of the country. Persons who walk abroad in the early evening along the country roads of the Yosemite foothills are likely to encounter this animal as it starts out on its nightly forays; for the skunk, unlike most other wild animals, does not take to cover at the approach of a human being.

The Striped Skunk is nearly twice the length of, and from 4 to 6 times as heavy as, the Little Spotted Skunk. Its body is heavy and the fur is relatively long. The hairs on the tail are often as much as 5 inches in length, and give to this member a plume-like appearance. Indeed, when held aloft, as it is when the skunk is disturbed, the tail constitutes its most conspicuous feature.

In the lower portion of the Yosemite region skunks make extensive use of ground squirrel burrows as dens, appropriating those which are deserted or possibly, even, holes from which the rightful owners have been evicted. It likewise uses deserted badger holes to a considerable extent. On the mesa-prairie near Snelling, Striped Skunks were trapped fully three-fourths of a mile from the nearest bluff of the foothills; and it seemed as though the animals must have been foraging abroad fully this distance, as no burrows were found short of the bluffs.

Relatively large numbers of Striped Skunks are trapped by the residents of the region both for their fur and because of the depredations which they commit about poultry houses. But despite this draft on the population the species has maintained itself in goodly numbers. The tracks are to be seen commonly in the morning along dusty roads through the foothills.

As one of us was motoring up the Coulterville Road not far above Lagrange one moonless night in August, a Striped Skunk was sighted in the road ahead. The beast was traveling up-grade in the right-hand wheel rut, ambling along at the regulation matter-of-fact rate characteristic of the species. As the machine approached, going in 'low,' the skunk accelerated its pace in no perceptible degree; neither did it leave the rut. In order to avoid the consequences of a rear-end collision, the driver, the last instant it was yet possible, simply had to turn out to the left, leaving the skunk still pursing its own course when the shadow-limit from the lights cut it from view.