Characteristics.—Muzzle long and pointed, projecting beyond the lower jaw; ears short, oval; tail long and bushy. The feet have five toes, with strong nails, which are not retractile; the soles of the hind feet naked.

Description.—The body of robust build, legs of moderate length. The body is thickly covered with two kinds of hair, the inner being soft and of a woolly character, while the outer is long and close.

Colour.—The upper part of the body greyish, mixed with black; ears, lips, chin, dingy white; above the eyes a light grey tint prevails. A dark patch passes over the eyes and nose, fading gradually; eyes black; on the sides and belly the long hairs are dingy white. The tail has five or six black rings alternating with bands of light yellowish brown.

Size.—Length from nose to root of tail twenty-six inches; length of tail nine inches; breadth of head four inches and a quarter.

Weight.—Averages twenty pounds.

THE English fox-hunter, seeing the racoon at some distance, might mistake it for the ‘pug’ often chased over the great Leicestershire and Northampton-shire pastures, and in thought he would recross the Atlantic, and imagine himself in the Harborough country, but a closer inspection would soon dispel the illusion. The familiar ‘brush’ would be found unlike the black-tipped and ringed tail of the 'coon. In its taste for food it resembles the fox even more nearly than it does in shape.