STORY OF THE RACCOON. 
The raccoon is about the size of a large fox, and an inhabitant of Canada 
and various parts of the United States. It derives its name, lotor, from the 
habit it is said to possess of washing its food before eating it. Its skin is 
very valuable, and is much sought after by American hunters, wild' pride 
themselves on their skill in shooting this active and wary animal. 
The food of the raccoon is principally small animals and insects. Oysters 
are also a very favorite article of its diet. It bites off the hinge of the oyster, 
and scrapes out the animal in fragments with its paws. Like a squirrel 
when eating a. nut, the raccoon usually holds its food between its fore-paws 
pressed together, and sits upon its hind-quarters while it eats. Poultry are 
very favorite objects of its attack, and it is said to be as destructive in a farm¬ 
yard as any fox, for it only devours the heads of the murdered fowl. Like 
the fox, it prowls by night. 
When taken young it is easily tamed, but very frequently becomes 
blind soon after its capture. This effect is supposed to be produced by the 
sensitive state of its eyes, which are only intended to be used by night; but, 
as it is frequently awakened by daylight during its captivity, it suffers so 
much from the unwonted glare that its eyes gradually lose their sight. 
They delight to sport in the shallow water on the margins of pools and 
streams, where they capture the crayfish lurking beneath‘the stones, and the 
fresh-water mussels buried in the mud and sand. They also catch such fish 
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