590 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



. RaiKje. — The common raccoon is found in wooded regions from 

 tha Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains and from Florida and Texas 

 to the northern boundary of Athabasca, about 60 degrees north 

 latitude. They do not usually live far away from timber, and 

 hence their nximbers are diminishing with the forest. 



They were very numerous in the great woods of southern Indi- 

 ana in the early days and were also found in the timbered swamps 

 to the north, but were not abundant on the prairies. At the present 

 time I do not think they have been completely exterminated in any 

 county in the State, but they are not abundant in thickly settled 

 counties like Marion or in the prairie regions like Benton County. 



TIahits. — The raccoons combine aquatic and arboreal habits to a 

 greater extent than any other species of mammal that I know. The 

 home was always in a tree in former times, although Mr. E. B. 

 Williamson tells me they now live in tile ditches in Wells County. 

 The name lotor, meaning one who washes, was bestowed because of 

 their habits of washing meat in a stream before eating it. I am not 

 at all sure that this is an invariable custom, but it is often done 

 and the animals are fond of playing in the water. One that I once 

 had as a pet liked nothing better than a dish of water in which he 

 dabbled with his feet, sometimes washing his nose and lips also, but 

 generally watching something else and paying little attention to the 

 water as long as he could keep his feet in it. 



The food is obtained in part from the water. The animal can 

 swim about as well as he can do anything else ; he is extremely 

 clumsy in all his movements. But he usually watches at the water's 

 edge for fish and crayfish instead of trying to catch them in deep 

 water. Pond snails and fresh water mussels are also eaten. 



Besides aquatic animals, raccoons eat young birds, birds' eggs, 

 poultry, ])ro])ably some mice and young squirrels, blackberries, 

 ai)ples Mild other fruit, corn in the milk and, more rarely, mature 

 corn in the shock, acorns and nuts. Honey is also taken from stores 

 of the wild bees. It is therefore apparent that the animals are not 

 strictly carnivorous, but are omnivorous. 



No doubt the omnivorous diet has been useful in enabling the 

 animal to hold its own fairly well under great odds. For the rac- 

 coon is a clumsy, slow moving animal, unskilled either in defense 

 or flight. His most dangerous trnit is his curiosity. It leads him to 

 run along every fallen log and cross every foot bi'idgc^ Mnd thus 

 enables the trapper to set his traps where the jininial will be likely 

 to get into them. Curiosity also leads him to tamper with the trig- 



