MAMMALS. ,;,;-> 



can hardly relish. To the negro, however, this taste adds a peculiar 

 piquancy to the meal, and chicken and bacon will be neglected when coon 

 can be had. 



The coon is about two feet long, with a tail of a foot more. Its color 

 is a gray varied to a dirty yellow, and mottled with hairs tipped with 

 black. These black hairs are most numerous upon the face and in the 

 rings of the tail. The raccoon lives in hollow trees, and in our northern 

 winter it hibernates much as does the bear, passing all the colder months 

 in a torpid condition. While the coon is a carnivore, and is especially 

 fond of birds, small mammals, and fish, he is not averse to an addition of 

 vegetables to his diet. Green corn and pumpkins are possibly preferred, 

 but when one of these animals gets in a garden, it commits sad havoc. It 

 seems to destroy from sheer wantonness ; for it pulls down far more than 

 it can possibly eat. It is said that it dips all its flesh into water before 

 eating it — a habit which is exceedingly difficult to explain. 



Relatives of the raccoon are the coaitis or coaiti mondis of the warmer 

 parts of America, from Mexico to Brazil and Paraguay. The more 

 southern of the two species is shown in our plate in an admirable man- 

 ner, and all that is necessary is to say that it is brownish above, and 

 yellow or tawny beneath, while the tail is banded with black and dirty 

 orange. It is the commonest carnivore in all South America, and is 

 remarkably mild in its disposition, even when wild. The Indians catch it 

 by shooting with darts poisoned with curare, and then if they do not 

 wish to use it for food, they cure it by rubbing salt — the antidote to 

 curare — into the wound. The flesh is said to resemble beef, but to have 

 a sweeter and richer flavor. Still this animal makes such an engaging pet, 

 that it is a pity to think of it as an article of diet. Dr. Samuel Lockwood 

 has given a most entertaining sketch of one which he kept in confinement, 

 and from his account we take freely in the following, using largely his 

 own language, for it could not be bettered. 



Inappeasably inquisitive, she was incessantly thrusting her long and 

 flexible nose into everything. It was enough that anything was hollow to 

 excite her curiosity. The dinner-bell was turned over ; but, unable to 

 detach the clapper and chain, it was soon abandoned in disgust. A round 

 sleigh-bell received more persevering attention. Unable to get her nose or 

 paws into the little hole at the side, the clatter within set her wild with 

 excitement, and evoked a desperate attack on the little annoyance with 

 her teeth. She then gave it up as a bootless job. A bottle of hartshorn 

 was made the next subject of investigation. She was not in the least dis- 

 concerted by the drug; in fact, she had a strong nose for such things. 

 Then came a tobacco-box. Resting it on the floor between, her two paws. 



