The raccoon is not an aquatic mammal, yet it is closely associated with water, whether it be streams, rivers, lakes or the ocean. The favored habitat of the raccoon is the shore line. It is a wader and, if it can be considered as specialized for any occupation, it is wading in mud and shallow water. Its long toes, naked feet, and short-haired wrists are admirable adapted for walking on muddy bottoms or in shallow water. The coon is also at home on land. It moves swiftly and silently and when chased by dogs can cover miles in a few hours. It is an agile climber and lives in dens well up in trees. The raccoon is almost completely nocturnal. Individuals are occasionally seen in the morning or evening, especially, when the tide is low along the ocean beach or Puget Sound. Near Fall City, King County, a small raccoon was seen eating a crayfish at 3:30 p.m. on a warm, sunny June day. In the eastern United States raccoons sleep during much of the winter, and probably they do the same in eastern Washington. In western Washington they are active most of the winter. Some trappers stated that the animals "hole up" in spells of unusually cold weather. Along the Tolt River, 10 miles southeast of Duvall, King County, their tracks were seen daily in January, 1936, although the temperature fell well below freezing each night. Washington is near the northern limit of the range of the raccoon. The animal is reasonably common in western Washington, and ranges well up into the Cascade Mountains. The highest altitudinal record available is Longmire, Mount Rainier National Park (Taylor and Shaw, 1927). Raccoons are not uncommon in southeastern Washington and in the Yakima Valley. They follow the Columbia River northward, as shown by tracks at Wenatchee on two occasions. The river valleys that flow into the Columbia in northeastern Washington seem admirably adapted for raccoons but the animal is rare there. Trappers who have lived and trapped in northeastern Washington for many years tell of seeing tracks at intervals of years along the Okanogan, San Poil, Colville and Kettle rivers. Several stated that tracks had been seen more often in recent years. Northeastern Washington seems to be the peripheral range of the species, occupied at rare intervals by animals wandering north from the Columbia River.