MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 1089 



down by the snow. He was very wily as had been fired at and missed 

 several times and was believed by the local villagers to be invulnerable 

 owing to his being possessed by a protecting " Shaitan.'" 



The head is the largest that has been shot in Kashmir for some years 

 past. There is, I believe, one larger head in Rowland Wards Kecord of 

 Large Game. 



Maymvo, Upper Burma, 

 nth Auffust 1919. 



0. GILBERT ROGERS, 

 Chief Conservator of Forests, Burma. 



[According to Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game 'The finest pair of antlers a]> 

 pears to be one given by Raja Gulab Singh, many years ago to Colonel King, then 

 Commanding the 14th Hussars, at whose death they passedto CaptainPrettyjohn of the 

 same regiment. What became of these antlers Mr. A. 0. Hume, who measured them 

 in Meerut in 1852 or 1S53, could not ascertain. The record stands, R. 52, L. 53-J-, 

 measured along the curve inside. Girth 10 inches at burr, and 7 half-way between 

 bez and tresuines. They were a wide branching, symmetrical pair." 



Mr. C. Gilbert Roger's head appears to come next to this head, the first given in 

 Ward's list being one belonging to Mr. K. S. Laurie, shot iir the Liddar Valley 

 and measuring as f Hows : — 



Length on outside curve . . . . . . 48-^'' 



Circumference between bez and trez . . 7^" 



Tip to tip U'"' 



Widest inside 33" 



Points 7+5 



Eds. I 



No. II.— PORCUPINE'S METHOD OF ATTACK. 



I have been very much interested by the recent correspondence as to the 

 methods employed by Porcupiires for using their quills either in ofl'ence or 

 defence, and as I have had practical and painful experience of their 

 methods I would like to state what I know on this subject. In February 

 1918, in Mesopotamia, while in camp near Samarra on the R. Tigris, I had 

 the good fortune to dig out a couple of adult Porcupines from their earth 

 amidst some ancient ruins. 



I did not actually see the animals dug out, as it took the best part of 

 a day for a couple of dozen men at least to accomplish the task, but when 

 they eventually cornered the creatures it was only with the aid of numerous 

 garments and pieces of clothing that they could capture them — and from 

 the state of some of the clothing that I saw , the Porcupines seem to have 

 put up a good fight. 



When I saw the animals in the evening, they had leather collars round 

 their necks and were fastened to stout stakes driveir into the ground and 

 appeared rather dazed and very frightened. 



I was standing a few feet from one of them talking to a youngster who 

 had been instrumental in their capture, when I suddenly received a terrific 

 blow on my shin which all but knocked me over. 



It was exactly as if I had been dealt a severe blow with a pick belve 

 or stout wooden cudgel — and fortunately for me I was wearing thick putties 

 and riding breeches, and two pairs of socks at the time, but even then a few 

 of the animals' quills penetrated nearly half-an-inch into my leg and for a 

 shorb while the pain was agonizing. 



For many days my leg was very stiff aud sore and I carried a large bruise 

 for over a fortnight to remind me of the incident. 



