x A LITTLE BROTHER OF THE BEAR 295 



" If not closely watched they will slyly enter the 

 house through some open door or window, and are 

 liable to do considerable damage, for their natural 

 curiosity prompts them to examine everything 

 within reach, and anything out of reach of a 'coon 

 must be inaccessible indeed. They invariably 

 manifest an insatiable desire to investigate the 

 pantry shelves, and rarely neglect to taste every 

 edible thing that happens to be there. They have 

 a special penchant for sweetmeats, and greedily 

 devour preserves, honey, molasses, sugar, pies, and 

 cakes ; and even bread, butter, lard, milk, etc., 

 are by no means disregarded. They remove the 

 covers from jars and pails, and uncork bottles, 

 with as much ease and facility, apparently, as if 

 they had been instructed in this art from earliest 

 infancy. Doors that latch, as they do in most old 

 country houses, are soon opened, even by unso- 

 phisticated 'coons, and it takes them but a short 

 time to acquire the method of opening knob doors. 

 Their fore paws are employed as hands, and can 

 be put to almost as great a variety of uses as those 

 of the monkey, which animal they further re- 

 semble in the propensity for mischief-making." 



The common raccoon is about thirty-three inches 

 in length, of which from ten to eleven inches rep- 

 resent the tail ; and when in good condition it will 

 weigh about twenty pounds. The prevailing color 

 'is light gray, tinged with pale rusty across the 

 shoulders and much overlaid with black-tipped 



