X A LITTLE BROTHER OF THE BEAR 279 



them with his fore paws. It is also a most suc- 

 cessful frog-hunter, and may frequently be tracked 

 along the river's edge, where it has been searching 

 for frogs, crayfish, water-snails, and dead mussels. 

 In summer frogs often form a large portion of its 

 food, when some species leave the water and there- 

 fore are easily caught. Insects are eaten to some 

 extent, as are slugs and snails. It also feeds 

 largely upon various vegetables in summer; and 

 its particular fondness for green corn (maize) is 

 well known to every farmer. ... In winter they 

 will occasionally eat the ripened grain, and have 

 been known to visit corn-cribs for that purpose. 

 They are also said to eat acorns, and to gnaw 

 through pumpkins to procure the seeds ; probably, 

 like the bear, they feed more or less on berries. 

 In confinement they are exceedingly fond of sugar. 

 Like the squirrels and spermophiles, they some- 

 times dig up newly planted corn." 



The common name along the southern coasts 

 of the United States for the small, narrow, tangled, 

 wild oysters that grow so abundantly in the salt- 

 marshes and inlets, is " 'coon-oyster," in reference 

 to the practice of the raccoons, who come down 

 to feed upon them at high tide. It is an old tra- 

 dition, that the animals now and then get caught 

 by a big one closing upon its paw and holding it 

 until the tide rises and drowns the animal ; but I 

 have never known of such a case, though I have 

 seen the animal searching the oyster-reefs in 



