316 NORTH AMEEICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



or through the woods from one stream or marsh to another, or to 

 some field of roasting ears, thicket of choke cherries, or orchard of 

 prunes or other sweet fruit. Except in the fruit and nut season 

 their food is largely obtained from or near the water and they are 

 fond of wading, and even swimming, to get it. They have the well- 

 known habit of washing or soaking their food or dipping it in water 

 before eating it, but if no water is near they do not wait for this 

 formality. They often make well-worn trails along the shores, and 

 the baby like tracks of their long hind feet, found in the sand or mud 

 where they have been searching for food, are unmistakable. 



Breeding habits. Adult females have 3 pairs of mammae 1 ingui- 

 nal, 1 abdominal, and 1 pectoral. Two to five young have been 

 reported in the litters. The mating season appears to be immediately 

 after the awakening from hibernation, which varies from January 

 to March, and young are born apparently in April and May, accord- 

 ing to the local climate. The period of gestation has been deter- 

 mined as about 65 days. 



Food habits. Raccoons are about as omnivorous as the bears, eat- 

 ing any kind of meat or small game they can capture or find dead, but 

 usually subsisting largely on frogs, fish, crayfish, clams, mussels, 

 berries, and any sweet fruits, acorns, nuts, and green or ripe corn. 

 In autumn they are especially eager for nuts and grain on which 

 they fatten for a long winter's sleep. In the mild climate of the low 

 country they do not hibernate for long periods or necessarily at all, 

 but where snow lies deep and the weather is cold they often remain 

 dormant for 3 or 4 months, coming out with the warm days of March 

 when the snow begins to melt, even before its disappearance affords a 

 remnant of the previous year's food. At such times they must de- 

 pend largely on the store of fat left over from fall, on an occasional 

 mouse or rabbit that may be surprised and captured, or on some animal 

 found dead under the snow. 



Economic status. On rare occasions raccoons have been known to 

 catch poultry, especially when the latter roosts in the trees, and 

 they undoubtedly catch some small game and eat the eggs of water- 

 fowl found nesting in marshes and along lake shores. They eat some 

 fruit and also destroy some corn while in the roasting-ear stage, or 

 even when ripe, but these depredations are usually overlooked in 

 view of the general value of the raccoon as a game and fur-bearing 

 animal. In many places the nocturnal " coon hunt " with dogs is an 

 exciting sport. 



The fur value of the raccoon is not great, the prices reachi] 

 usually but a few dollars per skin, but because of their genei 

 abundance and wide distribution, they form an important part oJ 

 the annual fur crop of Oregon. The fur is attractive, warm, an< 

 very durable, and is much used in winter coats for both men an< 

 women. 



PROCYON LOTOR EXGELSUS NELSON AND GOLDMAN 



SNAKE RIVES VALLEY RACCOON ; CANYON COON 

 Procyon lotor excelsus Nelson and Goldman, Jour. Mammal. 11 : 458, 1930. 



Type. Collected on upper Owyhee River near mouth of North Fork 

 southeastern corner of Oregon, by J. W. Fisk, April 15, 1920. 



General characters. Size largest of the raccoons; color light gray; ski 

 large and angular, with elongated brain case, broad frontals, and high sagitt* 



