1532 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



some rocky ledge inaccessible to both dogs and men." 

 This excellent account of a 'coon hunt must answer 

 as a description of one of those interesting hunts ; they 

 have for years occurred all over the country, and the 

 variety of incidents would furnish food for a volume. 

 As much as the writer has shot and collected during 

 the past fifty years, it was not until about the early 8o's 

 that he really came into a part of the country where 

 racoons were abundant, and where he could study the 

 various and interesting phases of their life history. Those 

 were pleasant days 

 when, long ago, he 

 collected in the 

 dense old cypress 

 swamps of the 

 L o u i s i ana low- 

 lands, south of 

 that most fascinat- 

 ing city, New 

 Orleans. It was 

 his greatest delight 

 to get far into 

 those sultry, dark, 

 dismal, and far- 

 reaching stretches 

 of heavy cypress 

 timber, where the 

 trees were fes- 

 tooned with masses 

 of "Spanish 

 Beard." Great 

 moccasin snakes 

 lurked there; and 

 some parts, render- 

 ed impenetrable by 

 fallen trees, tan- 

 gled vines, and 

 deep holes filled 

 with slimy water, 

 were the chosen 

 resorts of alliga- 

 tors and many of 

 the smaller rep- 

 tiles. Over head, 

 among the palmet- 

 tos, the cypress 

 limbs, and masses 

 of subtropical 

 creepers, one's eye 

 often caught the 

 scarlet flash of a 

 male cardinal, as he inquiringly looked down, or the 

 flaming, orange breast of an old male prothonotary 

 warbler, busily engaged in searching for insects in the 

 brighter regions above the gloom. 



Passing to where the footing is somewhat drier and 

 the shade not quite so dense, other forms are met with, 

 and more birds reward search. Presently, part way up 

 a pecan tree, you can recognize an old 'coon rolled up 



THE RING-TAILED RACOON OF THE SOUTHWEST 



This animal is lively and playful, and runs along the branches of the trees with the agility 

 of a squirrel. It- "is shy and retiring. Its food consists of birds, insects and small quadrupeds. 

 Courtesy of Mr. Hollister, Superintendent of the National Zoological Park, at Washington, D. C. 



on a limb close to the trunk. Your stealthy approach 

 was unnoticed until too late ; the 'coon now has no 

 means of escape, and evidently hopes you will pass by 

 without noticing it. But in this it is mistaken. Coming 

 to the foot of the tree and gazing up at the old rascal, 

 one is strongly reminded of the old story of Captain John 

 Scott, who had slain hundreds of 'coons, and whose rifle, 

 it was said, had never missed one; the legend runs 

 something after this fashion : 



'Coon up in tree — "Who are you, stranger, down 



there?" 



Captain Scott — 

 "Why, my name's 

 Scott." 



'Coon — "Do you 

 mean Captain 

 Scott?" 



Captain Scott — 

 "Yes, I'm the 

 man." 



'Coon — "Do you 

 mean Captain John 

 Scott?" 



Captain Scott — 

 "The very same." 



'Coon — "Well ! 

 If that's so, don't 

 fire ; there's no kind 

 of use. I'll come 

 right, straight 

 down." 



But the old fel- 

 low the writer had 

 so suddenly come 

 across was in bet- 

 ter luck, as he had 

 no intention of 

 taking its life ; and 

 after a little it was 

 left quite unmo- 

 lested. They were 

 very common in 

 that region, and 

 many people, in- 

 cluding the ne- 

 groes, kept them 

 as pets. 



Further south 

 many still enjoy 

 the sport of hunt- 

 ing this wily ani- 

 mal on moonlit nights with a pack of dogs ; and, owing 

 to the nature of the country, it is a more arduous task 

 than in the northern States. The animal more frequently 

 manages to elude its pursuers. The writer had them 

 alive several times while living in New Orleans ; but 

 they were extremely troublesome pets, and quite as 

 mischievous and amusing as a small monkey. On the 

 night of its capture, a very large animal was chained in 



