6

the shed, and when Clark removed these and lifted the board the skunk ran out and along the little surface
drain to a hole in the ground thirty feet away. Clark shouted to me to head him off; but I declined to be a party to any such experience
as heading off a skunk.

I went back to the house, and in a little while Clark announced that he had found another skunk. This one had run into the drain-pipe leading
from the shed, and Clark had stopped the exit with bricks. The skunk stayed at the upper end of the drain,
and we could see two shining eyes surveying us from the darkness. Clark removed the bricks and poured in a pail of water, and the skunk, instead of retreating,
bolted past Clark and across the yard for the house, and took refuge under the back porch, in the enclosure
where we store the garden tools. It then developed that they had made a hole near
the foundation, which was unquestionably their home!

The skunk did not get into this hole, and when disturbed ran along the side of the
house to the front porch, under which he went; we watched him through the lattice-work
for some time as he moved about. He was very deliberate, and did not seem afraid of
us, nor did he at any time seem inclined to avail himself of his infinite resources,
for which we are and should be grateful. We had no wish to kill the creatures, though
we could probably have got both of them. Possibly we may later have cause to regret
this forbearance.

At two o’clock I went to Trostler’s home, and together we went to the fields not far away to hunt for a nest of the prairie horned lark, of which we are anxious to get photographs. We started to explore the first likely
field which we entered, a patch of ground used for oats last year. We had not taken
a dozen steps when we hear a lark, and soon saw it on the ground a hundred feet away. We squatted