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 bethere. 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 oveflaid with black-tipped 
