NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 657 
ment. Color, dark-brown or black. Legs very short; 
body and tail very long. He is a roving animal. The 
skin sells for from $6.00 to $8.00. 
Skunk (Mephitis mephitica Baird). The Skunk lives 
on locusts and crickets principally ; will eat chickens and 
suck eggs. They are plenty about here. The skin is 
worth ten to fifteen cents, and has been worth fifty cents. 
I bait them with meat. 
Raccoon (Procyon lotor Storr). The Raccoon is very 
rare about here. I have caught them in a “dead-fall,” 
baited with fish. I have known them to go into the corn- 
fields and eat corn. The skin is worth from half a dollar 
to a dollar. 
Brack Berar (Ursus Americanus Pallas). I don’t think 
there are two species of bears in the country here, but the 
single species varies exceedingly in color and size and 
disposition. I had at one time two tamed, which I caught 
with their mother when they were cubs. One was what 
is called the “Ranger” Bear, that is, it was long-legged 
and long-bodied, and not so black, and. with a little 
coarser fur than the other variety. The other was what 
is called a “Hog Bear,” and was shorter-legged and 
blacker. So I am sure the Hog Bear and Ranger are 
of one species. I have seldom found two alike. I have 
caught a great many, as many as sixteen in one year, 
from May 1st to July Ist, around Schoodic and Seboois 
streams, a few miles east of here. I caught seven the 
last summer. The larger of the two tamed ones I had 
was of a milder disposition, and would learn more tricks 
than the other. Both were females. They had a dispo- 
sition to pry into everything. One of them got into the 
pantry once, and upset the flour barrel and went to eating 
the flour. When she got her mouth so full as to be 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 
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