In Berkshire fields . haps, down wind in a duck-blind, or sittingquietly with a rod, is to get a peep at the crueltyand grace of nature strangely combined. It is hard to get a good coon dog nowadays, I amtold—at least in our part of the world. Personally,Im not sorry, for you cannot have your coon andeat him, too. A good many, factors are combining,indeed, to make our Northern world safer for coondemocracy. The coons are hunted less (possiblybecause automobiles are making us more and moreaverse to hard physical labor); the forests are moreand more losing their pine at the hands of the lum-berm
In Berkshire fields . haps, down wind in a duck-blind, or sittingquietly with a rod, is to get a peep at the crueltyand grace of nature strangely combined. It is hard to get a good coon dog nowadays, I amtold—at least in our part of the world. Personally,Im not sorry, for you cannot have your coon andeat him, too. A good many, factors are combining,indeed, to make our Northern world safer for coondemocracy. The coons are hunted less (possiblybecause automobiles are making us more and moreaverse to hard physical labor); the forests are moreand more losing their pine at the hands of the lum-bermen and coming into hardwoods, which give theanimals nesting-places; and the coons, unlike theweasels, for instance, can vary their diet to embracevegetable products, especially corn, of which theyare extremely fond. Then, too, they hibernate inwinter, which is a great protection, and here in the 258 IN BERKSHIRE FIELDS North we have never achieved the humorous, imagi-native semi-personification of the coon which the. Trees are the instinctive refuge of the coon negroes have imposed on the South, to make thelittle creature doubly desirable. Certain it is, atany rate, that the coons are still numerous in our FOXES AND OTHER NEIGHBORS 259 Northern hillside forests, and I have found thetracks of their hind paws, like the mark of a tiny-shriveled babys foot, in the spring mud, not over amile from a populous Berkshire village. The coon gains immunity from dogs and foxesby his ability to climb trees, and he also gains muchfood thereby, for he robs birds nests and probablyeven captures sleeping birds at perch. In a treehe can be almost as craftily invisible as a weaselin a wall. Coons are of an inquiring turn of mind, and there-fore not hard to catch in a box trap. Once caught,they are easily tamed, at least to a state of acquies-cence, not pining as a fox often does, nor remainingsavage and resentful like a wildcat. In captivityyou can watch them obeying one of their mostcurious ins
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