Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-08-10
THE RACC00N.
AN ANIMAL OFTEN DISCUSSED
BUT SELDOM SEEN.
Avoiding the Haunts of Men-Fe
male Coons More Sociable Than
Males-Coons Always Drink
Before Touching Food.

Even in localities where coons are
most abundant nine out of ten of the
present generation never saw one, and
lew people know anything about them
Dr. their habits Although the coon pre-
'ers the vicinity of civilization as his
habitat, he plans to keep aloof from the
eyes of men, and habit renders this an
Easy task. By day he lies close In out-of
the-way retreats, in the depths of hollow
rocks. He wanders forth only at night,
and although his foraging expeditions
nay take him to the very doors of the
farmers, and even within the very bound
lry lines of villagers, he never betfays
his presence. If more than one coon
s brought to bay in tree they will in
Fariably be females or a mother coon
md her offspring, The female brings
forth her litter only once in two years,
Ind from the coming of litter to the
arrival of another sheand her young are
aever separated.
She keeps her little family together
ill they are two years old, and in pro-
tecting them will fight the attacking dog
Dr. hunter till she dies. Many good
coon dog has been forced to retreat be-
lore the fury of she coon fighting for
her young, and if she is captured the
whole family fall victims to the hunter.
The animal scent the coon leaves on the
Trail is at all times less than that of any
other game quadruped, and when the
female is nursing her young during the
summer months her scent is hardly per-
eeptible the dogs thus saving her and
her litter from many race for lie. The
'cent OF the coon grows stronger as the
cold weather advances, and through
November and December the dogs fol-
low it with comparatively little difficulty.
While the female coon is social and
domestic, the male is quite the reverse.
He is surly and solitary, ranges entirely
Alone, and gives no care or attention to
family matters. If two males meet in
ihe woods or fields they fight furiously
md not i1frequently to the death. An
Did coon hunter of this vicinity tells
how he once surprised two male coons
lighting in a corn field. They were so
trantically in earnest that they flew into
Zach other even after the dogs had
jumped upon them and taken hand in
BhO llC ulolC llluhCS LIS IduSC
for forage much wider than the female
does, and having no one to look after
Dut himself more frequently escapes the
ounter.
In spring and summer the margin of
brooks and ponds and the soft mud in
swamps and bays in every coon country
are always thckly indented with the
graceful footprints of the coon, for in
these months he spends his nights in
catching frogs, fish, lizards, grubs and
mussels, which arc then his chief sub
sistence.
Later on he ranges among the buckle
berry and blackberry patches and feasts
on the fruit. When the milk comes in
the corn is the coon's gala time, for he
loves the tender succulent grains, as the
farmer knows to his sorrow, aud great
are the risks he will take to forage in the
fields. 1t is not until the berries are
gone and the corn grown tough in the
ear that the coon begins to look about
for his winter stores. These he lays by
plentifully from the beechnut, chestnut
and acorn crops, and on these crops de-
pends the hunting of the coon when he
is at his best. During the nutting season
he is fat and solid and wide awake, pro-
vided there are plenty of nuts. If the
crops are failure the coon goes to his
winter quarters thin and miserable and
poorly prepared for the long winters
sleep and fast, wanders forth on every
day of thaw, though the snow may | e
deep on the ground, in search of such
fag ends of provender as may fall to his
lot. At such times the unfortunate
coon may be seen lowering, wan and
haggard, Oh the edges of the farm and
door yards, waiting for an opportunity
to pick up scraps from the kitchen, the
poultry yard or the pig-sty. One Pc
culiarity of the coon, which, like most
of his peculiarities, has escaped the at
tention of naturaliss s who write books,
is that he never touches food until he
has quaffed at some sping or brook,
even if he is compelled to go far to find
it. Old coon hunters say that the coon
dips every mouthful of his food into
water before eating it, but, like all old
hunters, old coon hunters say a great
many things that it would bother them
to prove.
1t is doubtful whether there are many
people VINO know that In no other Coun.
try on the globe besides the American
continent can the coon be found, and, al
though he is a favorite game in the
South, is nowhere so gamy and excellent
IN condition as in the Middle States.
When the coon grows inordinatey fat
and large he lessons his chance of falling
victim to the hunter, for then he ven
lures but short distance from his hiding
place and gives the dog small opportu-
nifty for finding his trail. 1t was rare,
for this reason, even in the days when
coon hunting was science, that coon
over twenty pounds in weight was ever
bagged, although they have been known
to attain weight of forty pounds
Mail and ErpreSS.
CuriOsities of Nomenclature.
The Earl of Sandwich, for whom the