596 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photo by George Shiras, 3rd 

 C THE END OF MOST WILD ANIMALS IS A TRAGEDY" (SEE TEXT BELOW ) 



supply of flashlight powder and plates, 

 we returned in the evening to the lake, 

 determined to give the coon plenty of 

 extra bait with the hope that it might be 

 induced to take a number of its own pic- 

 tures during the night. In this we were 

 successful, as the flash was fired first 

 about 9 o'clock, then two hours later, 

 and finally just before daybreak. 



"While the coon is cunning, he is not 

 only very inquisitive, but extremely dar- 

 ing when after a choice meal. Possibly 

 a million coons are trapped every year, 

 and yet few are shot except at night, 

 with the aid of dogs. The coon is almost 

 wholly nocturnal, for I have been on 

 islands in the Gulf of Mexico which har- 

 bored untold thousands, and yet, al- 

 though they were not molested, I seldom 

 saw one in daytime." 



It would take many pages to describe 

 the nightly bombardments of the two 

 weeks that followed. Finding that pic- 

 tures taken in the same spot meant many 

 duplications in coon portraiture, we tried 

 each night to select some new place, and, 



by arranging the bait differently, thereby 

 obtain a greater variety in position and 

 surroundings. 



The day before departing on a camp- 

 ing trip to Canada, my guide and I en- 

 deavored to arrange for a concluding- 

 picture that would be in striking contrast 

 to all the others. A thread 15 feet long 

 was baited every half foot with cheese, 

 and one end was suspended from the 

 upper half of a maple tree. A fish-duck, 

 shot for the purpose, was made the final 

 goal at the end of the string. The result 

 of this experiment is shown in the final 

 picture of the coon (see page 595). 



A month later I returned to camp, and 

 as Jim, the hostler, came out to unhar 

 ness the team, I asked him with some 

 curiosity whether "my coon was still 

 about." "Yes," replied Jim, much to my 

 pleasure ; "it is still here, and has two 

 young ones. And they are not far away, 

 either," he remarked, after some hesi- 

 tation, pointing towards the end of the 

 barn, where the trio of pelts were dry- 

 ing in the sun. 



