These animals are found in every part of South America; but they have
been very indistinctly described by travellers, and not only confounded
with each other, but also placed with animals of a very distinct
species. Hernandes has very clearly indicated three of these animals;
the first he calls by its Mexican name _ysquiepatl_, and which is the
same animal that Seba has given a figure of in his works, and is called
_squash_ in New Spain. The second Hernandes also denominates by the
same name, (_ysquiepatl_) and which in South America is called the
_skink_. The third he styles _conepate_, and which has been mentioned
by Catesby, under the appellation of the _American pole-cat_, and by
M. Brisson, by that of the _striped pole-cat_. Besides those mentioned
by Hernandes, there is a fourth kind of these animals called _zorille_,
in Peru, and in some parts of the Spanish settlements in India.
We are indebted to M. Aubry for the knowledge of the _squash_, the
_skink_, and the _zorille_; the two last may be regarded as originals,
as we do not meet with their figures in any other author.
The first of these animals came to M. Aubry under the name of _pekan_,
the _Devil's child_, or the _wild cat_ of Virginia. I perceived
it was not the real pekan, but the same animal that Hernandes has
described by the name of _ysquiepatl_, and which has been indicated
by travellers by the name of _squash_, or _potot_. (_fig. 185._) It
is about sixteen inches long; its legs are short, its muzzle rather
pointed, its ears small, its hair of a deep brown, and its claws black
and sharp. It chiefly dwells in the hollows and clefts of rocks, where
it brings forth its young. It lives upon small animals, birds, &c.
and often steals into a farm yard, where it kills the poultry, but
eats only their brains. When it is pursued or offended, it calls up
the most diabolical scents to its defence, and sends forth such a
horrid stench, that it is dangerous for men or dogs to approach it.
Its urine is apparently infected with this nauseous vapour, but which
does not seem habitual to it. "I had one of these animals sent me from
Surinam, (says Seba) which I kept alive in my garden during the summer;
I fastened it with a small chain; it never attempted to injure any
person; and when properly fed it might be managed like a little dog. It
burrowed in the earth with its snout, assisted by its two fore-paws,
the claws of which were long, and turned backwards: in the day-time
it concealed itself in the hole it had dug; at night it came out, and
after having cleaned itself it continued constantly running backwards
and forwards, as far as its chain would permit. It only eat as much
food as would satisfy its hunger; it never touched flesh nor bread,
but seemed principally fond of caterpillars, spiders, worms, &c. One
morning, towards the end of autumn, it was found dead, unquestionably
from not being able to endure the cold. The hair along its back was of
a deep chesnut; its ears were short, the fore-part of its head round,
and of a lighter colour than that on the back; on the belly it was
yellow. Its tail was of a middling length, covered with a brown and
short hair, annulated with small rings." Although the description and
figure given by Seba agrees with that of Hernandes, we must, however,
doubt their both being the same animal, since Seba does not make any
mention of its detestable scent; and it is difficult to conceive it
possible for him to have kept such a stinking animal a whole summer in
his garden, without speaking of the inconvenience that would arise from
such a circumstance; and we might suppose that the animal described
by Seba was a different one from that mentioned by Hernandes; this
suspicion, which at first sight seems to be well founded, must be
entirely obviated, when it is known that this animal only sends forth
this infectious scent when pursued or offended; and it has likewise
been caught and tamed by many people in America.
Among the above four kinds of _stinkards_, which we distinguish by
the names of the _squash_, or _potot_, _conepate_, _chinch_, or
_skink_, and _zorille_: the two last belong to the warmest parts of
South America, and may possibly be no more than two varieties, and not
different species. The two first are of the temperate climate of New
Spain, Louisiana, Carolina, &c. and seem to be distinct and different
species from the others; particularly the squash, which has the
peculiar character of having only four claws on the fore-feet, whereas
all the rest have five. But in other respects these animals are all
nearly alike, they have the same instinct, the same offensive scent,
and only differ in size, and in the colour and length of the hair. The
squash is of a pretty uniform brown colour, and its tail is not tufted
like the rest. The conepate (_fig. 187._) has five white stripes on a
black ground, running longitudinally from the head to the tail. The
skink, or chinch, (_fig. 186._) is white on the back, and black on the
sides, but quite black on the head, excepting a white streak from the
nape of the neck to the forehead; its tail is tufted and cloathed with
very long white hairs, mixed with some of a black colour.
The zorille, (_fig. 188._) which is also called mauripita, is still
smaller, and has a beautiful tail, as bushy as that of the chinch, from
which he differs however in the disposition of the colours on his coat.
He has several long white streaks, which run longitudinally from the
head to the middle of the back, on a black ground, and others which
pass transversely over the loins, the crupper, and the insertion of the
tail, one half of which is black and the other white, whereas the back
of the chinch is nearly all the same colour.
Kalm, speaking of this animal, says, "one of them came near the
farm where I lived. It was in winter, and during the night; the dogs
that were upon the watch pursued him until he discharged his urine
against them. Although I was in bed, and he at that time had got to
some distance, I thought I should have been suffocated, and the cows
and oxen, by their lowings, shewed how much they were affected by the
stench. About the end of the same year another of these animals crept
into our cellar, but did not exhale the smallest scent. A foolish
woman, however, perceiving him one night by the shining of his eyes,
disturbed and killed him; from that moment the stench began to spread,
the whole cellar was instantly filled with it to such a degree that the
woman kept her bed for several days, and all the meat, bread, and other
provisions in the place, were so infected that they were obliged to be
thrown out of doors."
These animals are somewhat like the European pole-cats; they also
resemble them in their natural habits, and the physical results of
their generation are the same. The pole-cat is the most offensive
animal for its scent in this continent; it is only stronger in the
stinkards, whose species are very numerous in America, whereas there
is only one of the pole-cat race in all the old continent; for I do
not believe, with Kolbe, that the animal he calls the stinking otter,
and which seems to be a real stinkard, exists as a native at the Cape
of Good Hope; and possibly Kolbe, who is not very exact, has borrowed
his description from P. Zuchel, whom he has quoted as having seen that
animal in Brasil. The animal of New Spain, called by Fernandes the
_ortohua_, seems to be the same animal as the Peruvian zorille; and
the _tepemaxtle_, mentioned by the same author, may probably be the
conapate, which is found in New Spain, as well as in Louisiana and
Carolina.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._
[Illustration: FIG. 189. _Pekan._ FIG. 190. _Vison._]
[Illustration: FIG. 191. _Canadian Otter._]