RACCOON. 
18 
then munch them at their leisure. During this inviting season, tlie 
Raccoon is not the only trespasser on the corn fields, but various animals 
are attracted thither to receive their portion, and even the merry school- 
boy shares the feast with them, at the risk of paying for his indulgence 
by incurring the necessity of a physician’s prescription the next day. The 
havoc committed in the Western States by squirrels and other animals 
is almost incalculable, and no vigilance of the farmer can guard against 
the depredations of these hungry intruders, which extend from farm to 
farm, and even penetrate to those embosomed in the forests, where settle- 
ments are few and far between. 
The Raccoon is not strictly a nocturnal animal ; and although it gene- 
rally visits the corn fields at night, sometimes feeds on the green corn 
during the day ; we have seen it thus employed during the heat of sum- 
mer, and it will occasionally enter a poultry house at mid-day, and 
destroy many of the feathered inhabitants, contenting itself with the head 
and blood of the fowls it kills. 
The ne.st or lair of the Raccoon is usually made in the hollow of some 
broken branch of a tree. When tamed, these animals are seldom induced 
to lie or sleep on a layer of straw- 
There exists a species of oyster in the Southern States of inferior 
quality which bears the name of Raccoon Oyster : it lies imbedded in 
masses in the shallow waters of the rivers. These oysters are covered by 
high tides, but are exposed at low water. On these the Raccoons are 
Ibnd of feeding, and we have on several occasions seen them on the oyster 
banks. We have however never had an opportunity of ascertaining by 
personal observation the accuracy of a statement which we have fre- 
quently heard made with great confidence, viz., that the Raccoon at low 
tide in endeavoming to extricate these oysters from the shell, is occasion- 
ally caught by the foot in consequence of the closing of the valve of the 
shell fish, when numbers of these being clustered and imbedded together, 
the Raccoon cannot drag them from their bed, and the returning tide 
drowns him. 
The naturalist has many difficulties to encounter when inquiring into 
facts connected with his pursuit : every one acquainted with the habits 
of even our common species must know, that the information gained 
from most of those who reside near their localities, from their want of 
particular observation, is generally very limited, and probably the most 
interesting knowledge gained by such queries, would be the result of a 
comparison of the accounts given at different places. From the Alle- 
ghany mountains, the swamps of Louisiana, and the marshes of Carolina, 
