A raccoon is a most satisfactory pet and will afford about as much amusement in the back yard as a cage of monkeys. Raccoons are more numerous, especially in New England, than formerly. They are extremely fond of green corn, but corn in any form is eaten greedily. Also, I regret to say, they are nest-robbers. In fact, they will eat fish, flesh, and fowl, as well as vegetables and insects. This makes the food problem for a pet 'coon a very simple one. But we can not afford to encourage them, because of their bird-eating habits. Sometimes a hunter finds a suckling 'coon in the woods. He cannot let the helpless thing starve, as it certainly would if left. When he gets it home, he will realize that its natural food is 'coon's milk. Some bright member of the family will suggest that a bottle of cow's milk with rubber nipple will do the trick. Having no such convenience as a rubber nipple, we once successfully brought up a baby pig on a bottle. We took a goose quill and wrapped it with a strip of clean old cotton cloth till we made a stopper for the bottle. This was fine, and I can recommend it for suckling lambs, pigs, fawns, 'coons, and other young mammals. There are well-authenticated stories of baby 'coons being adopted by cats whose young have been "disposed of." [Illustration: Photograph by E. S. Kane. A Bottle Baby] A 'coon is a most mischievous creature, and if you tame one you should really not expect your mother to feel all the enthusiasm you do about him, for his mischief is sometimes exasperating. An animal enclosure in the back yard may be necessary, but that means more work for you to keep the 'coon and his mates happy. Tame woodchucks are said by experienced boys to be a great success. Young ones are easy to capture, for they are not allowed to "hang around" the home nest after the parents decide that they are big enough to earn their own way. In "American Animals" there is a good story of a tame 'chuck for which the author traded an old fish line with a broken hook and thirteen cents "to boot." This little chap was brought up by hand and developed most interesting traits. He made life miserable for the family tabbies by nipping their heels, and he tunnelled under the door step till he made the earth cave in. A wild woodchuck will show fight when in danger of capture, but the tamed ones are not vicious. The last creature I should ever think of becoming familiar with is the skunk. Yet I have a photograph of a lady feeding a full-sized one from her hand. The account that went with the picture said that this skunk was in "perfectly good working order," too. Several naturalists have tamed these little animals, and there is no doubt that they make amusing and well-behaved pets.