The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-23
A NATURAL HISTORY STUDY
By ERNEST HAROLD BAYNEs.

about a foot. and il dashed out and was
lost i'm the shadows behind the buildings
almost before / could see which way il went.
For. short-sgged and heavily built though
it is. a raccoon has a most astonishing way
of hustling over the ground when there is
any real necessity for il.
Next day. / set out to find Swhere that
raccoon lived. for / felt sure it's home
not very far from the farmyard il had been
visiting. After search of nearly two days,
during which / visited every hollow tree
I knew of for two 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, the bark had been recently
scratched by the claws of some animal. 1
was pretty sure there was something
hairy in that" | climbed the trunk and
peering down into the dark hole. /
two shining stars. and | heard again Che
Kissing sound which the raccoon had made
in the hen-house. j had seen all / cared
about for that day; knew where she lived
now. and / could visit her at my leisure.
Next day L set out early to make my visit.
and upon arriving at the tree j picked up
a big dead branch, with which / belabored
the trunk, at the same time shouting at
the top of my voice. This outrageous con-
duct had the desired effect. and a large
Taccoon 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 as though she were
part of the tree itself, until / got some
what tired of waiting for her to do some
thing else and then | thought il might be
we'll n II there were any moro rae
coons in the hollow she had left. After
pounding the stump again to no effect, L
climbed up TO the hole and looked in. This
time 1 saw no shining stars. but | saw
number of bright little spots, and heard
chorus of long-drawn. tremulous pur-r-rs,
which l knew from previous experience
meant young raocsons. L pulled from my
belt a pair of old leather gloves, which /
usually carry. and which / use for a score
OF purposes in the woods, and after put
ting them on, | leaned into the hole and
reached down. The donnng of the gloves
was an unnecessary precaution, for the
cubs were too young to bite, and L drew
them out. four of them. each with look of
establishment on his comical little face.
put one of them in each of my side pock-
cts, and after returning the others to their
1 set the little gray cubs on the ground.
and more self-possessed youngsters L never
saw. They seemed interested in everything,
| but surprised at nothing, and they just
| toddIed about amongst the ferns and tree
! trunks as though they were attending to
| everyday duties. all the time purring con-
| tentedly. Then L took them home. and
| like other young raccoons 1 have reared.
| they took readily to cows milk, which they
sucked greedily from a baby's bottle. Lat
| er. they ate all manner of solid food, al
| ways washing it carefully before eating 1t.
| after the manner of almost all raccoons
| They are back in the woods again now
| and L have twice met one of them i'm my
| walks. He was quite wild, but still L
| thought he paused to give me rather long
| er look than most raccoons would do. be-
fore tearing away out of sight in the under
growth.