378 MAMMALS 



half -grown Norway rat. Its eyes were closed. The mother handled her off- 

 spring with her paws and mouth. From the first the mother would permit me 

 to take the little one in my hands without showing the slightest objection. I 

 brought both of the Raccoons in safety to my home in Newtonville, Massachu- 

 setts, early in July. The young one did not open its eyes until the middle of 

 this month, almost exactly thirty days from its birth, and continued very 

 helpless up to that time. The hair had gradually grown, and when it began 

 to see it was so well covered that it began to show some of the characteristic 

 markings of the adult, but it was much darker in color. From the first the 

 Raccoons occupied a good sized room where they could climb about, and the 

 young one, which we named "June," soon became very expert; even more so 

 than the mother, for she could walk up the side of a wall, some eight feet high, 

 which was, however, made of unplaned boards. June was at this time very 

 playful and delighted in romping with a young kitten of about her size. She 

 was also fond of playing with two skunks that were kept in the same room with 

 the Raccoons. This sportiveness was not always fully appreciated by the more 

 sedate skunks. They especially objected to having their long, bushy tails pulled 

 by their agile young friend, and two or three times, when so treated, so far 

 forgot their usual good behavior as to remonstrate in a manner that must have 

 completely astonished the little " coon." I think, however, she was always 

 quick enough to escape the fetid discharge, for I could never perceive any of 

 the skunky odor on her. I may say in passing that either owing to the 

 food with which these skunks were fed, or possibly due to the fact that they 

 were both females, or to some other cause, the odor of the discharges was not as 

 strong as that usually emitted by wild skunks. The room in which the animals 

 were kept was in a barn, and the floor was covered with straw, yet all traces of 

 the odor disappeared in two or three days. During the winter of 1897-98, 

 the Raccoons were kept in a room in which there was a fire night and day. 

 The next summer they were permitted complete freedom of the barn, out of 

 which they soon found a way to the open air. They never went far from 

 the buildings. The next winter, as they could not be caught, they were without 

 a fire, and sometime that season the old one disappeared. Presumably she 

 died from cold. June, however, developed a thick coat of hair and fur and is 

 now (April, 1904), alive and well, having passed through even the extreme cold 

 last winter without any fire in the building in which she lives. She is now 

 nearly eight years old. She attained her present size when she was two years 

 of age, but she is not as large as her mother and has always been consider- 

 ably darker in color." 



