THE RACCOON 177 



Otter could dive no longer, when it was speared and drawn 

 into the boat. Clubbing was a winter method. During 

 the frequent gales the Otters, to avoid the wind, often 

 bury their heads in the sea kelp near to the outlying 

 rocks. Under cover of the noise of the storm the hunters 

 were enabled to despatch one animal after another without 

 disturbing the main body. In this manner two men have 

 been known to slay as many as eighty Otters in a couple 

 of hours. 



Nowadays the rifle is the chief means employed to 

 capture the Sea Otter, and as the head offers a fair mark 

 even at a distance of a thousand yards, it is a far easier 

 method than the old style. The Otter rifleman plies his 

 business throughout the year, and consequently there is 

 little wonder that Sea Otter skins get fewer and fewer 

 each season. 



FAMILY PROCYONID^E. 



RACCOON (Procyon lotor). 

 Coloured Plate X. Fig. 6. 



Though in appearance animals of the Raccoon type differ 

 from each other very considerably, they are all distant 

 cousins to the bears, from which they are chiefly dis- 

 tinguished by their inferior size and the possession of two 

 true molar teeth on each side of the jaw. 



The Raccoon of North America ranges from British 

 Columbia to Paraguay. It derives its specific name of 

 lotor or ' washer' in consequence of its habit of rinsing 

 its food in water before eating it. A female Raccoon in 

 the Zoological Gardens washed her kittens so frequently 

 that they died from the effects of their mother's mistaken 

 zeal. 



The animal is arboreal and nocturnal in habit, climbing 

 trees with great facility, and sleeping in the hollows of 

 trunks. It is a restless, prying creature, and when tamed is 

 an interesting, if mischievous, pet. In body it is short and 



13 



