38 
NATURAL HISTORY 
RACOON. 
The Racoon is rather smaller than tire 
fox. Its body is short and bulky ; its fur is 
line, long, and thick, blackish at the surface, 
and grey towards the bottom ; its head is 
like that of the fox, but its cars are round 
and shorter; its eyes are large, of a yellow- 
ish green, and over them there ur ■ black and 
transverse stripes ; its tail is thick, and 
marked with black and white rings, and is 
at least as long as the body. 
The Racoon is a native of America and 
the West Indies; it is easily domesticated, 
and then becomes a very amusing and harm- 
less animal. 
