SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



587 



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break, tracks left in the 

 dusty streets tell the story 

 of their wanderings, as 

 they often do also in the 

 case of opossums. 



One morning in Febru- 

 ary, 1893, soon after sun- 

 rise, I chanced to pass 

 through a little wooded 

 square in the City of 

 Mexico and saw a lot of 

 boys pursue and capture 

 one of these animals 

 which, having overstayed 

 his time, had been sur- 

 prised by daybreak. This 

 wanderer might have had 

 its den in some house in 

 the neighborhood, since 

 one of its known habits 

 is to take up its abode 

 about houses, even in the 

 midst of towns. A friend 

 living in the City of 

 Mexico informed me that 

 after having been an- 

 noyed for some time by 

 noises on the roof at 

 night, he investigated and 

 discovered a female caco- 

 mixtle with partly grown 

 young snugly located in 

 a nest placed in a narrow- 

 space between the tile 

 roof and the ceiling. In 

 southern Texas the ani- 

 mals live on the brush- 

 grown plains under con- 

 ditions very different 

 from those usually 

 chosen. 



Like its relative the 

 raccoon, the cacomixtle, 

 with a taste for a varied 

 fare, takes whatever edi- 

 bles come its way. It 

 stalks wood rats, mice, 

 and even bats amid their 

 rocky haunts and birds 

 in bushes and low trees. 

 About the southern end of the Mexican table- 

 land it is much disliked for its robberies of 

 chicken roosts, especially when these are lo- 

 cated in trees. Insects of many kinds, larvse, 

 and centipedes are eaten, as well as a great 

 variety of fruits, including that of the pear- 

 leaved cactus, and dates, figs, and green corn. 

 Ring-tailed cats regularly locate among rocky 

 ledges, neighboring orchards, or other culti- 

 vated areas where they may gather some of 

 - the bounty provided by man. I found them 

 more plentiful among the broken lava cliffs 

 bordering date palm orchards in Lower Cali- 

 fornia than in any other place. When the 

 dates were ripening they prowled about under 

 the palms after dark with gray foxes and 

 spotted skunks to pick up the _ fallen fruit. 

 They sometimes uttered a complaining cry and 



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6.7. S. 



AMERICAN MINK TRACK NEARLY NATURAL SIZE 



Although this animal has five toes on each foot, only four appear 

 in each track. This illustration, which is practically natural size, 

 shows the usual arrangement of the track. The hind feet are, of 

 course, in advance. Variations of arrangement are shown on the 

 opposite page (see also pages 555 and 575). 



when caught in a trap would bark almost like 

 a little dog, or occasionally utter a vicious 

 scream of mixed fear and rage. 



Being an intelligent animal, the cacomixtle is 

 readily tamed and makes a most interesting pet. 

 During the early years of gold mining in 

 California, when many men were living in rude 

 cabins in the mountains, the prevalence of mice 

 often attracted these "cats" to take up their resi- 

 dence there. Often the owner of the premises 

 and the mouser struck up a friendly relation- 

 ship and the cacomixtle, becoming as free and 

 friendly about the place as a real cat, kept it 

 entirely clear from mice. I have had first-hand 

 accounts of these tame individuals from miners 

 who had harbored them in this way for months. 

 These accounts always gave the impression that 

 the animal was somewhat playful and mis- 



