40 
CARNIVORES. 
their eggs, frogs, fish, cray-fish, molluscs, insects, nuts and fruits and corn; while 
they will sometimes kill and eat domestic poultry. They delight to sport in the 
shallow water on the margins of pools and streams, where they capture the cray¬ 
fish lurking beneath the stones, and the fresh-water mussels buried in the mud 
and sand. They also catch such fish as happen to get stranded or detained in the 
small pools near the shore, although they are unable to dive in pursuit of their 
THE COMMON eaccoon (| nat. size). 
prey. They are, however, good swimmers. Although first-rate climbers, and 
making theii nests in a hollow high up in some large tree, 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. 
