Raccoon 435 



THE RACCOON 



[Procyon lotor) 



This sharp -nosed and ring -tailed greyish brown little mammal is 

 perhaps best known in Europe by its skin, which used to be so commonly 

 used for foot-warmers. It may be a question whether it is really entitled 

 to figure among game animals, but since it is the typical representative of a 

 family — the ProcyoniJcc — mainly restricted to the American continent (^the 

 only outlying forms now existing being the two pandas of the Himalaya 

 and Tibet) its claim has been admitted. It will be unnecessary on this 

 occasion to reter to the characters by which the family Procyon'uii:t is 

 distinguished from other groups ot Carnivora, although it may be men- 

 tioned that in certain features connected with the skull these animals 

 approach the weasel tribe {Mustclida). 



Roughly speaking, a raccoon may be compared in size to a cat, the 

 length of the head and body ranging between 22 and 26 inches, 

 and that ot the tail being about 10 inches. The sharply - pointed, 

 although somewhat short nose, and the large triangular black patch 

 occupying the face on either side of this, together with the rather short, 

 thick, and five-ringed tail, form characteristics by which this animal can be 

 recognised at the first glance. The general colour of the thick and some- 

 what coarse fur is dark brown, but the hairs are tipped with grey. A 

 well-fed raccoon will scale from about fifteen to twenty-five pounds, the 

 autumn being the season when these animals are generally in the best con- 

 dition. The raccoon ranges over the whole area of the United States, 

 extending northwards as far as Alaska, and southwards through Mexico 

 into Costa Rica. The common raccoon, as it should properly be called, 

 is by no means the solitary representative of its genus, although it will 

 be unnecessary to make further reference here to the allied species. The 



