THE RACOON 213 



It stirs abroad but very little by day, and only when 

 the weather is dull and cloudy. No North American 

 animals are more strictly nocturnal, except bats and 

 flying squirrels. And it not only sleeps by day, but also 

 during the winter. Yet it makes no specially comfort- 

 able nest wherein to repose, but only coils itself up in a 

 hollow tree or, by preference, in some dead branch ; for 

 it chooses, no doubt for greater security, an elevated 

 position. 



Racoons are carnivorous animals, and sometimes they 

 eat poultry, but mice, small birds, eggs, insects, fruits, 

 nuts, maize, frogs, crustaceous molluscs, and fish, are all 

 welcome food to them. They are very expert in breaking 

 down stacks of corn and stripping the husks from the 

 corn, using their paws like hands. They swim well and 

 will cross rivers without hesitation, but they cannot dive 

 and pursue fish under water as otters do. They readily, 

 however, obtain crawfish and mussels. They like to play 

 in shallow water and overturn stones in search of craw- 

 fish, and they have a singular habit of washing their food 

 in water before eating it. There is a Southern species, 

 called the crab-eating racoon, but that term could also 

 be supplied to the Northern kind. The Southern one 

 has, as might be expected, shorter fur, and it has also 

 stronger teeth, but otherwise is very like the Northern 

 kind, both in structure and habits. It is to be found 

 all over South America as far south as the Rio Negro. 



There are two beasts, closely allied to the racoon, but 

 more slender in build and with longer tails, found in 

 some parts of the United States and North Mexico. One 

 has been captured in Ohio, and in Oregon north-west of 

 Jacksonville. Catamiztli was a name applied to this 

 kind in Mexico, and it is also called cacomistle and the 

 cat-squirrel by the Texans. Its real relationship to the 



