Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-09-03


woods. lookin' for animals and takin'
pictures" and he thought the job would
be just in my line. | thought so too,
so ] accepted the proposition. and that
| night ! took an old army blanket and
made myself comfortable under the Ice
| of haystacs. whence | had fair view
| of the farmers hen house.
Before that, however, I had all the
| hens removed to another building for
7 know the animal. whatever 1t was.
would probably return to tho scene Of
ts formed successes, and in case I
had to capture an animal in the hem
| house, 7 did not wish to have matters
complicated by the insane acts Of half
n hundred squawl{ing hens. That night,
| however. my watching was In vain, and
the second night was just as barren OF
| results. But the third, n beautiful moon
| light night, I was not disappointed. 1t
may have been eleven o'clock when I
dictinctly heard a sound from the di-
rection of the stable: II the sound
Of some animal shifting. Very quietly
7 raised my head until I had a view
of n largo part of the yard. Not a thing
could ! SOC. yet every now and then
I could hear sniff" which was very
encouraging. Presently, round an angle
of the barn came a dark-loolking animal,
! which by its peculiar rocking gait alone,
| I should have recognized as n raccoon.
1t came on at a lcisurely pace, shifting
at every crack in the barn, and occasion
ally standing on its hind legs to look
about It. Very soon 1t reached the end
of the barn, and turning, cut across the
yard to the hen-house. Near one corner
of this building there was a little door
| for the hens, and into this tho raccoon
walked, as deliberately as though he
owned the farm. T arose quietly, and,
slipping across the yard, dropped the
little door into place, and I had a prls-
| oner. Then 7 got a lantern from the
stable. and. opening the door very care
fully. walked into the hen-house. The
raccoon was walking along the topmost
porch as 7 entered, but. laying back
its ears, and expelling the air from its
lungs with a loud kissing sound, 1t
scrambled quickly to the ground and
working its way along the sides of the
building, looking for n hole to escape
| by. I advanced toward it. and held out
my foot. It accepted the challenge on
the instant, and rushing forward. seized
my shoe with its teeth, and gave 1t a
bite which made me feel glad that the
leather was thick. 1t did not hang on,
as many animals do, but drew back as
| though to prepare for another rush. leaV-
ing its tcoth-marks deep in my shoe
! decided to let it go, and hunt the ami
NAL up later, to get an idea Of its pri
waite life. So I opened the door about
a foot and it dashed out and was lost
in the shadows behind the buildings
almost before I could see which way
It went For, short-egged and heavily
built though it is, raccoon has most
astonishing way Of hustling over the
ground when there is any real necessity
for it,
Next day. 7 set ont to find where that
raccoon lived. for | felt sure its home
was not very far from the farmyard it
had been visiting After a search Of
nearly two days. during which I visited
! hollow 7 Of tNUO
or three miles around, l came upon an
old trunk half hidden amongst the
branches of other trees Near the top
there was a very promising hole, and.
as the bark had been recently scratched
by the claws Of some animal, | was
pretty sure there was something hairy
in that" I climbed the trunk, and,
peering down into the dark hole I saw
two shining stars, and I heard again
the Kissing sound the which the rae
coon had made in the hen-house. 1 had
seen all | cared about for that day; I
knew whore she lived now. and I could
visit her at my leisure. Next day I
set ont early to make my visit, and
upon arriving at the tree 1 picked up
a big dead branch. with which be-
labored the trunk at the same time
shouting at the top of my voice. This
outra geous conduct had the desired ef-
feet, and large racCoon scrambled out
Of the mouth of the hole, and, swinging
on to a branch which grew near was
soon at the top OF another tree. There
she stuck MS though she were part of
the tree itself, until I got something
else. and then l thought 1t might he
well to see if there were any more rae
coons in the hollow she had left. After
pounding the stump again to no effect,
| climbed up to the hole and looked in.
This time ] saw no shining stars but
saw number Of bright little spots,
and ! heard chorous of long-drawn.
tremulous pur-r-rs. which I knew from
previous experience meant young rae
coons | pulled from my belt pair of
old leather gloves, which I usually carry.
and which | use for a score of purposes
in the woods ana after putting them
on. l leaned into the hole and reached
down. The DOMINIC of the gloves was
an unnecessary precaution, for the cubs
were too young TO bite, and | drew them
out, four of them. each with a look
Of establishment on his comiCal little
face. l put one of them In each of my
side pockets, and after returning the
others to their home. I slid to the foot
of the tree. Here I set the little gray
cuhs on the ground, and more self
possessed youngsters I never saw. They
seemed Interested in everything but sur
prised at nothing. and they just todded
about amongst tho ferns and tree trunks
as though they We're attending to every
day duties, all the time purring con-
tentedly. Then I took them home. and
like other young raccoons I have reared
they took readily to cows milk, which
they sucked greedily from a habys bot
tie. Later, they ate all manner OF solid
food, always washing it carefully before
eating it, after the manner of almost
all raccoons. They are back In the
woods again now. and ! have twice me,
one Of them in my walks, He was quite
wild, but still | thought he paused to
give me a rather longer look than most
raccoons would do. before tearing away
out of sight in the underground.
Ernest Harold Baynes