Raccoon 



themselves to the changed conditions forced upon them by the 

 settling of the country and the consequent thinning of the 

 forests and swamps. 



In a previous chapter I have mentioned the pine marten, or 

 American sable, as a creature to all outward appearances, at 

 least, well enough fitted for dwelling in a partially cultivated 

 region without departing so very widely from the ways of its 

 ancestors, but which has, nevertheless, been invariably one of 

 the very first to disappear before advancing civilization, the 

 value of its fur alone certainly not being sufficient to account 

 for its extermination. 



The raccoon, on the other hand, furnishes us with just the 

 opposite example. A creature of somewhat clumsy and delib- 

 erate movements as compared with the majority of the wood- 

 dwellers; requiring a pretty large space for a hiding-place or 

 bedroom, and generally insisting on a hollow tree of good size 

 or cavern among the rocks for its accommodation; persecuted 

 everywhere and at all seasons both by men and dogs, and in 

 spite of it all, not only holding its own in most places where 

 it has ever been found in any numbers, but apparently even 

 increasing and establishing itself in districts where, until quite 

 recently, it has been practically unknown. 



I cannot discover that they have ever been abundant in 

 this vicinity (Southern New Hampshire) from the lime when 

 the country was first settled to the present. In fact, all 

 those that I can obtain any account of as having been 

 killed here, until quite recently, appear to have been regarded 

 almost as curiosities hardly to be recognized even by the 

 oldest hunters, yet one would suppose that formerly the 

 country must have been much better suited to their tastes than 

 now. 



From all accounts the original growth of forests that stood 

 here was composed much more largely of hard woods, white 

 oak, beech and maple than the woods now left us, composed 

 principally of white pine, hemlock and birch, furnishing neither 

 food nor lodging to the raccoon's taste. 



Within the last two or three years, however, raccoons have 

 unquestionably become not uncommon in this and most of the 

 neighbouring townships, so that coon hunts are becoming quite 

 popular and usually prove fairly successful, the barking of coon 



248 



