January, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
11 
First flashlight picture of a pioneer coon on Lake Superior. 
He preferred cheese to fish on a baited string as 
we found on developing the picture 
which he had taken himself 
Note the monkey-like fingers, for this animal possesses great 
dexterity in climbing, fishing, the robbing of well- 
protected poultry yards or the plucking and 
stripping of ripening corn 
gratified at seeing a coon 
sitting on the gangplank 
of the house-boat. We 
thereupon set up a couple 
of cameras, with the flash- 
light machine a little 
above them, and ran a 
string 10 feet to an eye- 
screw at the base of a 
hemlock, with cheese and 
fish fastened to the end of 
it. While at work I heard 
a slight movement in the 
dry leaves beyond, and 
turning the jacklight in 
that direction, saw only 
the two glowing eyes of 
the hungry visitor. And 
here it may be remarked, 
parenthetically, that while 
the eyes of all predaceous 
animals possess a wonder- 
ful luminosity when re- 
flecting back the rays of a 
light at night, the porcu- 
pine and all northern 
rodents, with one excep- 
tion, do not glow at all. 
“Returning to the 
house-boat and putting 
out the light, only a few 
minutes elapsed before 
the brilliant glare of the 
exploding flashlight was 
seen through the open 
windows. Quick as we 
were, the coon had dis- 
appeared on discovering 
what terrible things re- 
sulted from simply pulling 
at a little piece of cheese 
tied on the end of a string. 
The final picture of the season. A fish duck for bait 20 feet up in a 
maple tree. In these and subsequent pictures, the dazzling 
glare and boom of the flashlight seemed only to be 
regarded as a visible and audible invitation 
to an especially prepared feast 
“August 22, 1903. — 
Went down the river to 
camp in order to develop 
last night’s flashlight of 
the coon, and found, on 
developing the negative, 
he preferred the cheese to 
the fish. The dead chick- 
ens left beyond the fence 
at camp were undisturbed 
— fairly conclusive evi • 
dence that our visitoi :it 
the house-boat was the 'pp 
guilty of the former Vp- 
redation. Getting a uoo 1 
supply of flashlight yov. - 
der and plates, we re- 
turned ir the evening to 
the io.cc, determined to 
give- the coon plenty of 
extrn bait with the hope 
that it might be induced 
to take a number of its 
own pictures 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 be- 
fore daybreak. 
“While the coon is cun- 
ning, he is not only very 
inquisitive, but extremely 
daring 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 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 44) 
