Raccoon 437 



Raccoons are usually hunted with specially trained foxhounds at 

 night, by whom they are " treed," there to await the arrival of the 

 sportsman with his gun. About half a million raccoon skins are annually 

 sold in London, at prices varying between sixpence and ten shillings each. 



Nearly allied to the raccoons are the coatis (Nasi/a) of South and 

 Central America and their relatives the cacomistles and kinkajous, but 

 these can scarcely be regarded as coming under the designation of game 

 animals. 



Hares, it is true, are reckoned as game in Europe, and the species 

 inhabiting India and Tibet are noticed in the volume of this series dealing 

 with the game animals of those countries. But the number of American 

 hares is very large, and their description would occupy a very considerable 

 space. Moreover, if these were included it would be difficult to refuse 

 places in the present volume to many others of the larger American 

 rodents, such as the carpincho or capibara, the coypu or nutria, the 

 viscacha, the paca, the mara or Patagonian cavy, the agutis, the beaver, 

 etc. Consequently it has been decided to exclude all these numerous 

 groups, and to bring the work to a conclusion with the foregoing brief 

 account of the raccoon. 



