92 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



called it a Shoui, a name heard today among the French- 

 speaking trappers of the Louisiana lowlands. It is, for that 

 matter, so much in use that many people believe that Shoui 

 is a French word. The Biloxi Indians termed it atuki and 

 in their folk lore there is a very interesting story of "The 

 Opossum and the Raccoon," in which these two native 

 American animals staged a crayfish-eating contest. The 

 Ofo Indians called the 'coon iya. 



Scientifically, the raccoon has been christened Procyon 

 lotor, a designation given it by Linnaeus in recognition of 

 its curious habit of dipping or washing its food before eat- 

 ing it. This habit has earned for it the French name of 

 roton laveur and the German name of waschbar. 



This valuable fur animal is a night wanderer and it 

 delights to prowl about wet places. For that reason, the 

 swamps and marshes of our state are favorite habitats of 

 this queer animal. A fallen tree seems to have a great 

 temptation for Brer 'Coon, and on his nocturnal wander- 

 ings in search of food he mounts the log and clumsily 

 ambles along it from one end to the other. This habit has 

 long been recognized by our native trappers, and an ex- 

 perienced 'coon-trapper simply sets his trap on the top of 

 a prostrate log without bait or other lure and can be sure 

 of skinning his animal the next morning — provided, of 

 course, a 'coon elects to promenade the log during the night. 



Curiosity is one of the raccoon's pronounced habits, so 

 much so that a piece of bright tin or other shining metal 

 is frequently hung over a trap so that it will be seen by 

 this prowler in the moonlight, and the raccoon examines 

 it to the cost of its life and pelt. Other trappers will wrap 

 the pan of the trap with tinfoil and place the trap under 

 an inch or two of clear water near the bank of a stream 

 so that Mr. 'Coon will reach for it with one of his fore- 

 paws — and remain there until the trapper appears the next 

 morning and adds another skin to his collection of raw 

 pelts. 



The track of a raccoon is easily recognizable in soft 

 earth and as it has a habit of wandering up and down the 

 banks of waterways it always leaves visible evidences of 



