1916] Kellogg: Mammals and Birds of Northern California 355 



seen the tracks of a small animal in the sand along the river and, 

 by taking an imprint of the foot of one of Knowles' specimens as 

 a pattern, had decided they pertained to a civet cat. We set a 

 number 1 steel trap under a willow tree, hanging the bait from a 

 branch. The first night the animal climbed the tree, got out on the 

 branch and dragged the bait over a side branch toward it. The 

 second night we hung the bait farther out and nearer the ground, 

 and cut off the side branches. The additional effort proved successful. 

 The largest specimen taken by Knowles (male, no. 12889) meas- 

 ured: total length, 720 millimeters; tail vertebrae, 340; hind foot, 

 70; ear, 45. Its weight was two pounds. 



Procyon psora pacifica Merriam 

 Pacific Coon 



Our specimens (nos. 12890-12894), three from Helena, one from 

 Hay Fork and one from Tower House, all belong to this dark form 

 of Procyon (see Merriam, 1899, p. 107). The saying "cunning as 

 a coon" was exemplified in the case of one we finally trapped at 

 Helena ; but it was perhaps more because of our way of fixing the 

 trap than of much cunning on the part of the animal that he was 

 able to take our bait two nights in succession. We were trying a 

 trap called "Stop-thief", which is supposed to catch the animal 

 around the head, this being more humane than the common steel 

 trap ; but on account of its mechanism the animal had to step 

 through it, so we arranged a cave of rocks with the bait inside and 

 the trap at the entrance. The first morning after setting we found 

 the remains of the bait, a saw-bill duck, about two yards away 

 from the cave with the trap attached. It had been dragged through 

 the entrance. The next morning the coon had torn the cave open 

 from the opposite side. So we gave up the "Stop-thief", and read- 

 ily caught the coon the following night in an ordinary steel trap, 

 with suspended bait. 



We saw no signs of coons in the higher mountains of the Salmon 

 and Trinity ranges. Neither were any tracks seen at Scott River. 



Martes caurina caurina (Merriam) 

 Northwestern Pine Marten 

 We secured seven specimens of marten (nos. 13767-13773), one 

 at Jackson Lake, three at the head of Rush Creek, and three at the 



