274 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



to have lessened in numbers, until now one is rarely 

 seen in this vicinity. One would think that, being tar 

 more intelligent than either the opossum or skunk, 

 they should have outwitted man as readily, and so have 

 held their own, even in thickly settled districts ; but they 

 have not. Here is a case where theory and fact are at 

 loggerheads. Foolish creatures, like opossums, thrive, 

 while cunning 'coons are forced to quit or die. 



When Kalm,the Swedish naturalist, was travelling in 

 New Jersey, a century and a half ago, these animals 

 were fairly abundant. His description of their habits, 

 as he observed them then, holds good to-day; but what 

 does he mean by asserting that " the raccoon is frequent- 

 ly the food of snakes " ? What manner of snake, even 

 in his time, could have managed to swallow a raccoon ? 

 To-day, snakes are sometimes the food of raccoons, and 

 possibly this is what Kalm meant to say. 



The young coon in the vine-draped gum-tree was 

 wholly undisturbed by my presence, and simply stared 

 without winking, as I gradually approached. When 

 within a dozen paces I saw that its chaps were literally 

 dripping with gore. There were no feathers at the foot 

 of the tree or caught in the tangled undergrowth, and 

 no bits of fur ; but drops of blood were spattered every- 

 where. The poor thing must be wounded, I thought. 

 Hoping, therefore, to put the creature out of its misery, 

 I planned to reach it ; but as I had no gun, I could only 

 climb. This failed, but, as I was looking up the straight 

 stem of the tree, the coon moved a little upward and 

 outward, as though determined to keep the space be- 

 tween us unchanged. The ease of its movements did 



