172 THE RACCOON. 



sanguinary and savage disposition, and commits great havoc 

 among domestic as well as wild birds, always destroying far 

 more than he requires ; merely eating off their heads, or lap- 

 ping up the blood which flows from their wounds. He com- 

 mits occasionally ravages in sugar-cane or Indian-corn planta- 

 tions ; and, climbing with ease, catches birds, and devours 

 their eggs. He resembles the squirrel in his movements ; 

 and, like that animal, when eating, sits on his hind-legs, and 

 uses his fore-feet to carry his food to his mouth. A story 

 is told of a young tame raccoon let loose in a poultry-yard, 

 when, his natural disposition overcoming his civilized manners, 

 lie sprang on a cock strutting in a dignified fashion among the 

 hens, and fixed himself on its back. The bird, surprised at so 

 unusual an attack, began scampering round the yard, the hens 

 scattering far and wide in the utmost confusion. Still the 

 little animal kept his seat, till he managed to get hold of the 

 unfortunate cock's head in his jaws, and before the bird 

 could be rescued, had crunched it up still keeping his seat, in 

 spite of the dying struggles of his victim ; and probably, had 

 he not been bagged, would have treated all the feathered in- 

 habitants of the yard in the same fashion. When out hunt- 

 ing on his own account, he often hides himself among the 

 long reeds on the bank of a lake or stream, and pouncing out 

 on the wild ducks as they swim incautiously by, treats them 

 as he does the domestic fowls on shore. 



He partakes considerably of the cunning of the fox, yet, 

 like that animal, is frequently outwitted. A raccoon after 

 a long chase managed to reach a tree, which he quickly 

 climbed, with the aid of his claws, snugly ensconcing himself 

 in the deserted nest of a crow. In vain the hunters sought 

 for him, till his long, annulated tail, which he had forgotten 



