276 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



that has been given to him. Perhaps the fox is 

 his superior in real mental capacity, but the rac- 

 coon is so far beyond Reynard and many other 

 highly sagacious beasts in manual dexterity, that 

 he appears to be quite as clever as the best of 

 them. Add to this the remarkable acuteness of 

 his hearing, aided by sharp eyes and a quick nose, 

 and it is no wonder that " sly " has come to be 

 an accepted epithet describing him. 



The 'coon most often makes his home in a hollow 

 tree, and is an excellent climber, yet he is not an 

 arboreal animal, in the sense that a squirrel is. As 

 Dr. Merriam puts it : 



" They do not pursue their prey amongst the 

 tree-tops, after the manner of the martens; nor 

 make a practice of gathering nuts from the 

 branches, like squirrels ; nor do they, like the 

 porcupine, browse upon the green foliage. Trees 

 constitute the homes in which they rest and bring 

 forth their young, and to which they retreat when 

 pursued by man or beast; but their business is 

 transacted elsewhere." 



The home of the raccoon family is usually in a 

 hollow high up in a tree, where a limb has been 

 wrenched off by the wind or water has rotted a 

 hole (perhaps begun by a woodpecker) large 

 enough for their accommodation ; but now and 

 then a place is selected nearer the ground, as a 

 hollow log; and Kennicott tells us that in the 

 open regions of Illinois and the neighboring States 



