ANIMAL ETIQUETTE 41 



bridge on which some of the straw was dipping into 

 the water. It swam along and collected as many of 

 the hanging ends as it could in its mouth ; then 

 dived back under the bridge, and dragged all the 

 dry part of the straw into the water, having con- 

 siderable difficulty in doing so, because it was 

 hitched over the edge of the bridge-plank. It then 

 pulled all the dripping straw into its bed, rushed 

 out, took another plunge, and collected another 

 mouthful, which it pulled into the water, and swam 

 off with it as before. After several visits it had 

 collected the whole of what was lying on the plank, 

 had wetted it all thoroughly, and was preparing to 

 go to sleep on it inside its house a proceeding 

 which almost induced rheumatism at sight among 

 the spectators. But the otter was quite satisfied. 

 It had acted according to rule, and been true to 

 amphibious etiquette, down to soaking what were to 

 be its bedclothes for the coldest night of the year. 



The common American * 'coon ' is a slave to an 

 unusual form of etiquette, which in its case has 

 grown almost beyond the forms of conventional 

 observance, and become a kind of conscience to it. 

 It will wash everything which it eats if there is 

 any water near. The fact seems to have been 

 questioned by some writers, but it is certainly the 

 habit of racoons when kept in captivity with access 



