^88 
THE STORY OF THE RACCOON . 
as happen to get stranded or detained in the small pools near the shore, 
although they are unable to dive in pursuit of their prey. They are, how¬ 
ever, good swimmers. Although first-rate climbers, and making their nests 
in a hollow high up in some large trees, raccoons cannot be considered by 
any means thoroughly arboreal animals. Thus they neither hunt their prey 
among the tree-tops, nor gather nuts and fruits from the branches, nor do 
they feed upon the young shoots and twigs. Trees form, however, their 
resting and their breeding-places, and likewise their refuge when pursued 
by human or other foes. With the falling shades of night they invariably 
descend to hunt their prey and search for food. 
The raccoon hibernates during the severest part of the winter, retiring to 
his nest rather early, and appearing again in February or March, according 
to the earliness or lateness of the season. Disliking to wade through deep 
snow he does not come out much till the alternate thawing and freezing of 
the surface, suggestive of coming spring, makes a hard crust upon which 
he can run with ease. He does not usually walk many..miles during a single 
night, and consequently is soon tracked to the tree, in some hole of which 
he has retired for the day. It is unusual to find a raccoon alone, for they 
commonly live and travel in small companies, consisting of the several 
members of a single family. They do not return to the same nest every 
morning, but often make, little excursions in various directions, being gone 
several days at a time, ancl taking refuge, about daylight, in any convenient 
arboreal shelter. Though preferring a hollow limb high up in some giant 
elm, ash, or basswood, they will put up with almost any kind of a hollow 
trunk. I have known them to spend the day in old stubs, in hollow logs, 
and even in the poor shelter afforded by the angle where a falling tree had 
lodged in a crutch. 
In Central America and the more southern districts of North America, 
the raccoon remains active throughout the winter, as the climate would not 
necessitate any hibernation. In the Adirondacks the young the produced in 
the spring—generally during the month of April; and there are usually from 
four to six in a litter. They remain with their parent about a twelvemonth. 
The nest which, as already mentioned, is placed high up in a tree, has but 
little care bestowed upon its construction. 
It has long been known that this raccoon is in the habit of moistening 
its food with water before eating it; and it doubtless received its distinctive 
specific name from this habit, which has been of late years verified. 
The crab-eating raccoon is a nearly-allied South American species, dis- 
