282 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



up and he arches his back and makes a peculiar sneezing noise. In this 

 way he puts uie in mind of my crab eating Mongoose who did the same 

 thing. 



V. A. JACKSON. 



TuRA, Garo Hills, Assam, I2th August 1918. 



[Since we received the above notes we have heard frem Mrs. Jaok.3on that the 

 hoff-bad<i"er is now at large in the jungle. — Eds. 



No. II.— PORCUPINE'S MODE OF ATTACK. 



With reference to the Miscellaneous Note on ]>age 491 of the Society's 

 .Journal, Volume XXV, No. 3, " A hght between a dog and a porcupine," 

 the following may be of interest to your readers : — 



In 1907, I was, stationed at Fatehgarh in the United Provinces and 

 driving home one evening from the Club with my wife we saw in the 

 waning light our dog " Peggy " a bull-terrier, then about two years old, rush 

 after a porcupine that crossed the road in front of us. The porcupine ran 

 for some distance with the dog in full chase over the maidan when the 

 former suddenly stopped and ran backwards into the dog who gave a yelp 

 and commenced rolling on the ground. I at once jumped out of the trap 

 and got hold of her pulling out a quantity of quills from the head and chest, 

 all of which I kept and took back to the bungalow. One quill we noticed 

 was the butt end and this circumstance together with the uneasiness of the 

 dog for the next few days convinced my wife that she still had a quill in 

 her somewhere. There being uo Veterinary Officer in Fatehgarh my wife 

 wrote to the young Surgeon attached to the 2/lOth Gurkhas then quartered 

 in the Cantonment, asking him to have a look at the dog. , After a long 

 examination he at last located the quill and the next day the dog went up 

 with the small dogboy to the Hospital, and our friend pulled out a half 

 quill of 4^" long which I have now before me as I write. The butt end 

 measures 3f' so that together they make a whole quill of 7^ inches long. 

 This gives a guide to the diameter which is -} inch. The dog, an extremely 

 intelligent beast, seemed to know that the probing was being done for her 

 good, and never moved a muscle the whole time, but licked the Doctor's 

 hand when it was all over. The quill wasremoved from the flesh over the 

 right shoulder blade, and had been broken oft' about f of an inch from the 

 surface of the skin. ■■\ 



I may add that I once shot a big male Panther <in the Sendra-Ghat some 

 thirty miles from Ajmere and found on skinning him that his two fore feet 

 were full of porcupine quills, pieces from 1 inch to 2^ inches long being em- 

 bedded in the pads, and some even up the fore arm. The poor beast must 

 have suftered agonies, but I think that it is often so difficult for a Panther 

 and for a Tiger to obtain a meal, that they go for the first animal they 

 come across which may be with dire results to themselves. 



A peculiarity of the Porcupine is that his quills drop out a short time 

 after they have been damaged even in the slightest manner. I presume 

 that the time taken for dropping out depends on the damage done. The 

 quill is then replaced by a new one which probably forces the old one out. 

 I have on many occasions picked up these quills and on examining them 

 invariably found the flaw, mostly made I should imagine by projecting 

 rocks, for Hystri.c cristata is a " cave dweller" although he makes an earth 

 when not in a rocky country. 



The natives have the. idea that he has the power of throwing quills like 

 darts at his enemies, and probably it is got from finding these old quills lying 

 about. 



Chipstead, Surrey, June 1918. REGINALD H. HEATH. 



