VOL. I-] Yellow- Haired Porciifine. 237 



dangerous method. The coyotes hunt in pairs, and having found 

 their victim, cautiously turn it over on its back — using their paws 

 for this purpose — and whilst it is struggling to regain its favorite 

 position, they seize it, one by a fore-leg and the other by a hind-leg, 

 and by tugging in opposite directions they succeed either in break- 

 ing the skin across the abdomen — which is as tender as a rabbit's, 

 and without spines — or they render the animal incapable of further 

 resistance. Then comes the act of disemboweling and the feast, 

 after which but the empty skin remains. Young coyotes have often 

 been observed with sore and maturated heads, presumably the 

 result of injudicious haste in securing this prey. The spines being 

 somewhat barbed, will, if once lodged in the mouth of an animal, 

 penetrate deeper with every movement of the muscles, causing 

 inflammation and sores, until they work out at the surface. 



The yellow-haired porcupine is found abundantly in Modoc and 

 Lassen counties, California, where it lives chiefly upon the buds 

 and berries of the juniper, which occupies thousands of acres in these 

 counties. They are so numerous in certain localities that their ex- 

 crement covers the ground under their favorite trees. They do 

 considerable damage to pine forests by eating the upper limbs, and 

 it is probable that their diet embraces a wide range for they have 

 been known to subsist, in times of scarcity, on the leaves of the 



common sage-brush. 



Another interesting habit of these porcupines, and one which 

 shows considerable reasoning powder, is the construction of their 

 roosts, upon which they sleep during the warm hours of the day. 

 These are made by breaking down into a flat nest the tops of a tall 

 bush, ten to fifteen feet high, and there, quite out of the reach of 

 their inveterate foes, the coyotes, they bask in the hot sun. As 

 many as three individuals have been observed upon one nest. Like 

 the raccoon, they prefer hollow trees in which to rear their young; 

 but as these are not available in the juniper region, they nest in the 

 numerous crevices of the lava-beds. 



Equipped with a splendid armor against the rapacious beasts and 

 birds, with arboreal habits, taking it most of the time, out of reach 

 of its only successful foe, and with an abundance of food, the porcu- 

 pine of this region leads a comparatively safe and happy existence 



and man alone, the general enemy of all creation, with his mur- 

 derous gun, can seriously reduce their numbers or exterminate them. 



