118 
ZOOLOGY. 
Doctor Cooper, in his note, says that the badger has a strong "doggy" flavor, "not to men- 
tion its extraordinary toughness and leanness." The Doctor must have been unfortunate in his 
choice of a specimen to experiment upon. Tliose that I have seen are generally too fat, and 
one that I ate, in company Avith some Nez Perces Indians, on the southern slope of the Blue 
mountains of Oregon, I thought exceedingly good; so good that I allowed the savage banquet 
to replace my ordinary dinner. 
The skin of the specimen obtained in Washington Territory was unfortunately lost on its way 
to the Smithsonian museum. As Professor Baird has examined skins from the west side of the 
Rockj^ mountains, and pi'onounced the species of both sides to be identical, I feel at liberty 
to give the range of the T. Americana in the northern sections of our country, as follows: 
Found sparingly in the eastern portion of Minnesota; becoming more abundant near the 
Missouri. From thence, after entering Nebraska, it extends almost all the way to the dividing 
ridge of the Cascade mountains, near the Pacific coast. Further west it does not go, at least 
north of the Columbia. I have seen it in the St. Mary's valley, at the western base of the 
main chain of Rocky mountains, and as far south in Oregon as the vicinity of Fort Boise, on 
the Snake or Lewis river. They are most abundant (north of Utah) in the vicinity of Powder 
river, Oregon, and the Yakima, one of the northern tributaries of the Columbia. The speci- 
men obtained in Minnesota was so fat that T had much difficulty in skinning it properly for 
preservation. — S. 
PRO C YON HERNANDEZII, W a g 1 c r . . 
Black- footed Raccoon. 
Frocyon hernandezii, Wagleb, Isis, XXIV, 1831, 514. — Baied, Gen. Eep. Mammals, 1857, 212. 
[See chap. 2, p. 94.] 
r' 
How far east the black-footed raccoon extends is still a matter of some doubt. In 1855 
Mr. Sinclair, a gentleman then in charge of the Hudson Bay fort at Walla-Walla, informed me 
that the "raccoon" does not extend north of the 50th parallel. But as Mr. Sinclair had spent 
the greater part of his life in the SaskatcheAvan and Red river regions, it is probable that his 
remark applied only to the P. lotor, the common species east of the Rocky mountains. The 
P. hernandezii is found quite abundant on Puget Sound, as far as 48° north, and probably 
extends along the coast to a point at least as high as the 55th parallel. This opinion the 
mildness of the winters of that section of the northwest coast seems to justify. 
I obtained many specimens of this species Avhile at Fort Steilacoom. They are quite 
abundant in that vicinity, having much the same habits as the common raccoon of the Atlantic 
States; taking to trees when pursued too closely by dogs; feeding and moving about occasionally 
in the day, but most frequently at night; frequenting the borders of ponds at night, in pursuit 
of frogs, dead fish, &c.; more or less gregarious in their character, and when Avounded, or at 
night Avhile engaged in combats or courtships, filling the air Avith their noisy, snarling, cat-like 
screams. In these and in all other habits i\\Qy resemble "that same old coon" at home. 
Mr. Sinclair, Avhose long experience in the fur trade entitles his statements to respect, gave 
me some interesting statistics concerning the valuable part that the fur of the raccoon takes in 
that lucrative business. He stated that seA^eral years ago, at one of the great regular semi- 
annual fur sales at London, over 730,000 raccoon skins Avere sold, of which the majority Avere 
