118 The Ottawa Naturalist. [January 



quills stuck firmly in our buckskin mitts. By poking a stick in one 

 end of the tunnel, we tried to force him out of the other end; but he 

 would have evidently suffered death rather than move an inch. An 

 attempt to smoke him out with a smudge choked and blinded us, but 

 had no effect whatever on the steadfast porcupine. So, not wishing 

 him any real hurt, we at last gave up, and left him to the cold comfort 

 of his wind swept hillside. 



An ambition of mine has long been to get a good photograph of 

 a porcupine in his native wilds. They are plentiful enough, but one 

 generally sees them high up in the tree tops or finds them wedged 

 inaccessibly into a crevice in the rocks. One day last summer, how- 

 ever, I came on a fine young specimen wandering along the edge of a 

 beaver meadow, and alas! my camera was at home. Next day I had 

 occasion to visit the same place again, but as I thought there was no 

 chance of seeing the porcupine the second time, and the day was very 

 hot, I decided not to burden myself with a camera. And when I came 

 to the beaver meadow, there were two porcupines ambling side by side 

 in the grass. The third day I loaded myself with all my apparatus, 

 and set out for the meadow with high hopes. "The third time is the 

 charm." There was no porcupine there, and I have not seen one since. 



NOTES ON THE BIRDS IN AN OKANAGAN ORCHARD. 



By J. A. Munro. 



The following notes apply to a ten acre orchard of mixed fruits 

 on Okanagan Lake, B.C. The fruit trees are planted on a narrow strip 

 of land, at the base of an abrupt rise. Behind this small hill are a 

 series of benches, originally covered with bunch-grass (Agropyron 

 spicatum) and now partly sown to alfalfa. Behind these benches is 

 a steep rocky mountain, five hundred feet in height, covered with a 

 fairly heavy growth of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxi folia) and Yellow 

 pine (Pinus ponder osd) with several patches of Quaking aspen 

 (Populus tremuloides) and Mountain birch (Betula fontinalis). A 

 waggon-road has been built close to the shore of the lake, and on the 

 lake side of this road there is a continuous row of various species of 

 wild fruit; chiefly Black haw {Crataegus douglasi) Bitter cherry 

 (Prunus emarginata) and Service berry (Amelanchier alnifolia). 



The summer of 1916 was remarkable for the number of birds 

 that visited the orchard, in excess of the normal population of breeding 

 birds. In spite of the abundance of natural food afforded by the wild 

 fruits, many species showed a marked preference for the orchard crop. 

 Italian prunes, sweet cherries, and several varieties of plums 



