156 THE ANGLER AND HUNTSMAN 



In the South, the usual practice is to hunt by night, with 

 a lantern and an axe, and, of course, a good pack of dogs. 

 The lantern is used to "shine" the coon's e.yes. That is, at- 

 tract his attention, and when he turns his face toward the 

 hunter his eyes may be seen, as the} r look like balls of fire 

 after dark. Thus one is able to find out if the coon is in the 

 tree, already indicated by the dogs barking at bay. The axe 

 of course, is used to hew the tree down, if other means fail to 

 induce the coon to come down and introduce himself to the 

 waiting dogs. 



Sometimes a venturesome hunter deigns to climb the 

 tree wherein his majesty sits. Sometimes the hunter suc- 

 cessfully performs the job, and sometimes the coon resents 

 the intrusion into his leafy domain, and a battle between 

 man and mammal follows, in which the man usually receives 

 enough scratches, cuts and gashes from the claws and teeth 

 of his adversary to make him ever after respect the raccoon. 

 If, perchance, the man succeeds in ejecting the ring-tailed 

 "monster" to the ground, the waiting dogs will find to their 

 sorrow that they have something in the nature of a f ight-to- 

 the-f inish on their hands not altogether to be desired. Usu- 

 ally, however, the dogs are present in such overwhelming 

 numbers as to make the battle unequal and unfair. If the 

 coon had only one dop to whip, we will not venture to pre- 

 dict the outcome, but we have a sneaking notion that such a 

 dog would remember ever afterward that encounter, provid- 

 ing the coon was a full-grown one and in good fighting trim. 



RABBIT HUNTING: 



The little bunch of animated fur, as some call the cot- 

 tontail, or "Sylvilagus floridanus," is one of our most 

 widely distributed and most important small game mam- 

 mals. Perhaps every American is familiar with this form 

 of rabbit, because they are so numerous within our borders. 

 If not familiar with "this form, then you are acquainted with 

 some of the cottontail's relatives, since in one species or 



