226 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



a broad black band across the face, the eyes being within its upper 

 border, bordered behind with grayish white which shades into 

 the blackish of the crown and yellowish gray of the sides of the 

 neck ; region of the mouth and sides of the nose dull white with a 

 narrow prolongation from the corners of the mouth cutting off 

 the black facial band from a blackish patch beneath the neck; 

 convex base of the ears and a large ill-defined spot behind them 

 black; remainder of the ears dull white; underfur of lower parts 

 drab gray grizzled with an intermixture of long white hairs; 

 tail brownish buff with five to seven black or dusky rings 

 narrower than the pale interspaces, and all but two or three of the 

 last black rings interrupted below ; tip of tail black ; fore feet pale 

 drab; toes and inner edge of hind feet pale smoke gray; remain-- 

 der of hind feet sepia or dusky. 



Length about 840 mm. (33 inches) ; tail vertebrae 295 

 (11.60) ; hind feet 125 (4.90) ; ear from crown 57 (2.25). 

 Type locality. Sacramento. Cafifornia. 



Raccoons are found in the timbered regions of the lower 

 mountains and valleys of California and around some of the ba^'S 

 along the seacoast where no timber is near. They prefer to 

 hunt along streams and are common in the timbered bottoms of 

 many rivers and creeks. 



The food is quite varied, including mice, small birds, eggs, 

 insects, frogs, fish, molluscs, green corn, fruit, etc. They are 

 good swimmers but do not dive. They are fond of fish, but cart 

 get only such as they can snatch at the waters edge, or find dead 

 along the shores. If they find a henroost which they can enter, 

 or where they can reach poultry through the laths, they are 

 likely to do considerable harm. They frequently visit vineyards, 

 eating the ripe grapes. The harm they do is but partly offset by 

 the considerable amount of mice that they destroy. 



They travel about a considerable distance from home, some- 

 times having a beat several miles in length, which they take sev- 

 eral nights to cover. I trapped one pair that got around to my 

 vinevard about once a week, and in the interim visited one local- 



