Notes on Animal Life. 83 



young coons were treed by his dog, and the parent subsequently 

 shot. Two of the young were kept a year after. 



Mr. Charles B. Barnes, to whom the writer is indebted for much 

 information concerning wild animals of the land as well as of 

 fishes, says that when young he trapped a coon in the woods 

 between Old Colony Hill and Weir River, and shot the mate in a 

 high tree near. 



In the winter of 1885-86 coons appeared in considerable num- 

 bers, and many were killed, especially in Hingham Centre. One 

 was trapped near the house of the writer in the following spring. 



Mr. Israel Whitcomb, who is a good observer, and much inter- 

 ested in the animal life of the town, states that raccoons are 

 by no means so rare in the woods between Hingham Centre and 

 Cohasset as generally supposed. He has known more than twenty 

 to be killed in a single season. 



Foxes were quite numerous half a century ago. Large parties 

 of hunters with dogs were accustomed once or twice a year to 

 scour the woods in the lower part of the town and drive them 

 toward and beyond Planters' Hill across the bar that connects 

 World's End with it, when, escape being cut off, they were readily 

 killed. 



Mr. Francis W. Brewer informs the writer that in the spring 

 of 1882 a fox had a hole in a meadow near his father's house, in 

 which were its young. 



There are yet undoubtedly many foxes living in the woods of 

 the eastern and southern sections of the town. 



The Mink, a pest of the poultry-yard, is unfortunately quite com- 

 mon, and often manifests its destructive propensities to the great 

 annoyance of and considerable cost to the farmer. In the summer 

 of 1882 five hens were killed in one night in a hen-house on Mr. 

 John R. Brewer's estate, Martin's Lane, by minks, one of which 

 was trapped the following night, and another shot a few days 

 afterwards. 



Mr. Israel Whitcomb, of Union Street, also lost during a night 

 of the last season a considerable number of chickens by a visita- 

 tion of this animal. 



The Weasel is another blood-thirsty visitor of the poultry-yard, 

 but is comparatively much more rare than the Mink. 



The Otter, now extinct in the town, has not been so more than 

 half a century. Mr. Charles B. Barnes remembers one that years ago 

 frequented the swamp, not far from his home on Summer Street 

 during a season, and he has known of others being seen in 

 Hingham. 



