A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



would take it to the mat and roll it under 

 his fore paw. How did he find out that he 

 could clean a nut on the mat? There was 

 no instinct, as I afterward proved. When 

 visitors were feeding nuts to him I dusted 

 his mat with ashes. Satan would take a nut 

 and start for the mat, but his keen sight 

 would detect the ashes, and he would stop, 

 sit up, and clean the nut in the old way. 



In November I trapped another coon, a 

 young male. Doubtless he was the son of 

 Satan, for he was from the same den. I 

 knew, too, that he was born after Satan was 

 captured, so they could have no knowledge 

 of each other. I thought I would put the 

 young coon in Satan's cage and see if the 

 old fellow would recognize his own flesh and 

 blood. If he did, I would have to admit that 

 it was a case of instinct. When I put them 

 together a desperate fight took place. The 

 young coon was soon whipped and tried to 

 hide. Satan followed him up, but suddenly 

 began to sniff. He dropped his nose on to 

 the young coon's ears, sniffing all the time. 

 44 



