116 MAMMA Ll A — RACCOON. 



and Clarke expressly state that the raccoon, at the mouth of the Columbia, 

 is the same with the animal so common in the United States. Desmarest 

 says that the raccoon extends as far south as Paraguay. It is an animal, 

 with a fox-like countenance, hut with much of the gait of a bear, and being 

 partially plantigrade, it was classed by Linnaeus in the genus Ursus. In 

 the wild state, it sleeps by day, comes from its retreat in the evening, and 

 prowls in the night in search of roots, fruits, green corn, birds, and insects. 

 It is said to eat merely the brain, or suck the blood of such birds as it kills. 

 At low water, it frequents the sea shore to feed on crabs and oysters. It is 

 fond of dipping its food into water before it eats, which occasioned Linnseus 

 to give it the specific name of lotor. It climbs trees with facility. The fur 

 of the racoon is used in the manufacture of hats, and its flesh, when it has 

 been fed on vegetables, is reported to be good. 



He may be tamed without difficulty, and is then very good-natured and 

 sportive, but is as mischievous as a monkey, and seldom remains at rest. 

 Of ill treatment he is extremely sensible, and never forgives those from 

 whom he has received it. He has also an antipathy to sharp and harsh 

 sounds, such as the bark of a dog and the cry of a child. 



We shall insert here, the greater part of a letter written by M. Blanquart 

 de Salines, to Count de Buffon, on the correctness of which full reliance 

 may be placed. 



"My raccoon was always kept chained before he came into my possession, 

 and in this captivity he seemed sufficiently gentle, though not caressing ; 

 all the inmates of the house paid him the same attention, but he received 

 them differently ; treatment he would submit to from one person, invariably 

 offended him when offered by another. When his chain was occasionally 

 broken, liberty rendered him insolent; he took possession of his apartment, 

 suffering no one to approach him, and was with difficulty again confined. 

 During his stay with me, his confinement was frequently suspended ; with- 

 out loosing of him, I allowed him to walk about with his chain on, and he 

 expressed his gratitude by various movements. It was otherwise when he 

 escaped by his own efforts : he would then ramble for three or four days 

 together over the neighboring roofs, and only descend at night into the 

 yards, enter the hen-roosts and destroy the poultry, especially the Guinea 

 fowls, eating nothing but their heads. His chain did not render him less 

 sanguinary, though it made him more circumspect : he then employed 

 stratagem, allowing the poultry to familiarize themselves with him by par- 

 taking of his food ; nor was it until he had induced them to feel in perfect 

 security, that he would seize a fowl and tear it in pieces; he also killed 

 kittens in the same manner. 



"If the raccoon be not very grateful for favors received, he is singularly 

 sensible of bad treatment ; a servant one day struck him some blows with a 

 stick, and often afterwards vainly endeavored to conciliate him, by offering 

 eggs and shrimps, of which the animal was very fond. At the approach of 



