lo University of Michigan 



in Steere's Swamp, near Ann Arbor, in the winter of 1882. 

 The species is very local, living in swamps and woods, which 

 it rarely leaves. It has a sharp bark which is heavier than 

 that of the red fox. 



Procyon lotor lotor. Raccoon. — In this county the raccoon 

 was formerly very common, according to the early settlers, 

 and did much damage to poultry and to the corn when in the 

 milk. In return it served as food and its skin was both an 

 article of dress and a medium of exchange, a coon-skin being 

 valued at 25 cents. It was still very common in Lodi Town- 

 ship in 1870-80 and furnished the sport of "cooning," when 

 it often led both dogs and men a tiresome chase through woods 

 and swamps and often escaped to its den in some big hollow 

 tree. 



When taken young it makes an interesting but very mis- 

 chievous pet, and cannot be allowed loose in the house. I 

 once had three as pets, and nearly all kinds of food given them 

 were treated to a bath before eaten. It is omnivorous in its 

 food habits and eats all kinds of fish, flesh, eggs, apples, ber- 

 ries, and is especially fond of green corn. On this food the 

 coon grows fat, and when winter comes curls up in some den 

 tree and sleeps through the winter, sometimes alone, and 

 sometimes with several others. I have known of seven being 

 found in a big hollow tree in L,odi Township. The latter part 

 of the winter, during the warm spells, I have found tracks in 

 the snow and have followed the tracks for miles as they vis- 

 ited other dens. The species is not strictly nocturnal, and I 

 have often seen coons sunning themselves on limbs and have 

 also found them on the ground feeding in the daytime. I 

 once found a small one in the water of a little brook, where 

 it was nearly drowned and was uttering a shrill, piteous cry. 

 It had probably fallen from a log into the stream. 



