282 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



before eating it. Various explanations of this have 

 been given; but it is probable that the simplest 

 namely, that it seeks to wash the food is the 

 nearest the truth. An acquaintance of mine was 

 once mischievous enough to give a captive 'coon a 

 raisin covered with cayenne pepper, which kept the 

 poor animal sneezing for half an hour. The next 

 day he was given another ; but this time he sniffed 

 at it in advance, and discovering more pepper, took 

 the raisin to his dish and washed it. Smelling of 

 it cautiously, he was not satisfied with his work, 

 but continued to rub it between his palms and 

 wash it under the water until he was sure nothing 

 remained upon it to annoy his throat and nose. 



The animal is partial to the water, being a good 

 swimmer and loving to dwell near streams or the 

 sea and to dabble in the shallows, fishing many a 

 morsel out of the pools and capturing agile crabs 

 and crayfish by overturning the stones. 



His partiality for crayfish is notorious, those liv- 

 ing in the far Southwest subsisting almost wholly 

 upon these subterranean creatures, which they 

 scratch out of their tubular burrows. This taste 

 has given rise to a fable among the O jib ways, 

 related by Dr. Henry Schoolcraft, long ago, in his 

 "Algic Tales." The Indian story regards it as 

 the result of an enmity between the two animals, 

 in the fabulous antiquity, which caused such wari- 

 ness on the part of the latter that the poor raccoon, 

 with all his stealthiness, was at last put into great 



