80 PILEATED WOODPECKER. 



The Racoon Grape. 



ViTis AESTIVALIS, Mich. Flor. Amer. vol. iL p. 230. — Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. 

 voL i. p. 169. — Pentandria Monogtnia, Linn. Vites, Juss. 



The Racoon Grape is characterized by its broadly-cordate leaves, which 

 have three or five lobes, its oblong clusters, and the small size of the bluish- 

 black fruit. It is one of the finest of our vines, in regard to the luxuri- 

 ancei of its growth, its tortuous stem ascending the tallest trees to their 

 summit, while its branches spread out so as to entwine the whole top. I 

 have seen stems that measured eighteen inches in diameter, and the 

 branches often extended from one tree to another, so as to render it diffi- 

 cult to pull down a plant after its stem has been cut. Its flowers perfume 

 the woods. The grapes are small, hard, and very acrid, until severely bit- 

 ten by frost. In autumn and winter, racoons, bears, opossums, and many 

 species of birds, feed upon them. 



