276 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP, 
that has been given to him. Perhaps the fox is 
his superior in real mental capacity, but the rac- 
coon is so far beyond Reynard and many other 
highly sagacious beasts in manual dexterity, that 
he appears to be quite as clever as the best of 
them. Add to this the remarkable acuteness of 
his hearing, aided by sharp eyes and a quick nose, 
and it is no wonder that “sly” has come to be 
an accepted epithet describing him. 
The ’coon most often makes his home in a hollow 
tree, and is an excellent climber, yet he is not an 
arboreal animal, in the sense that a squirrel is. As 
Dr. Merriam puts it: 
“They do not pursue their prey amongst the 
tree-tops, after the manner of the martens; nor 
make a practice of gathering nuts from the 
branches, like squirrels; nor do they, like the 
porcupine, browse upon the green foliage. Trees 
constitute the homes in which they rest and bring 
forth their young, and to which they retreat when 
pursued by man or beast; but their business is 
transacted elsewhere.” 
The home of the raccoon family is usually in a 
hollow high up in a tree, where a limb has been 
wrenched off by the wind or water has rotted a 
hole (perhaps begun by a woodpecker) large 
enough for their accommodation; but now and 
then a place is selected nearer the ground, as a 
hollow log; and Kennicott tells us that in the 
open regions of Illinois and the neighboring States 
