071 the Canada Porcupine, 365 



Hystrix Dors at a. — Linn. 



Canada Porcupine. 



Specific Characters. — Sinnes, sliort^ ^^ar/Za/Z?/ concealed by 

 long hairs ; no mane ; long bristles on the head and neck ; colour 

 varying between light brown and blacJc. 



The porcupine, of all North American quadrupeds, possesses 

 the strangest peculiarities in its organization and habits. In its 

 movements it is the most sluggish of all our species. Although 

 the skunk is slow of foot, he would prove in contemptible compe- 

 tition with it in a trial of speed. Under such circuin stances the 

 inquiry arises, what protection has this animal against the attacks 

 of the wolverene, the lynx, the wolf and the cougar, and how 

 long will it be before it becomes totally exterminated ? But a 

 wise Creator has endowed it with powers by which it can bid 

 defiance to the whole ferine race, the grisly bear not excepted. 

 If the skunk presents to its enemies a formidable battery, th^t 

 stifles and burns at the same time, the porcupine is clothed in an 

 impervious coat of mail glistening with bayonets. 



This wonderful animal is found throujrhout North America 

 from Labrador to the Rocky Mountains, and as far north as lati- 

 tude 67*^, on the Mackenzie River. Southerly, it ranges to the 

 latitude of the northern parts of Pennsylvania, and is occasionally 

 met with in Ohio. We are informed that in Gaspe, at the mouth 

 of the St. Lawrence, it is very abundant. It exists, but not plen- 

 tifully, in all parts of Upper and Lower Canada. 



Its food is exclusively vegetable, and, like the beaver, in the 

 winter season, it feeds upon the bark of trees. For this purpose 

 nature has provided feet armed with long, strong and sharp claws, 

 by the aid of which the porcupine readily ascends trees of all 

 dimensions. The bark of the small ones, however, appears to 

 furnish the favorite food, and these are completely stripped and 

 destroyed. It is said that a single porcupine will destroy all the 

 young trees on several acres of ground in one winter season. A 

 writer (Cartwright) says : " When he mounts into a tree he does 

 not come down until he has eaten the bark from the top to the 

 bottom. He generally makes his course through the wood in a 

 straight direction, seldom missing a tree, unless such as are old. 

 He loves young ones best, and devours so much (only eating the 

 inner part of the rind) that I have frequently known one porcu- 

 pine to ruin nearly a hundred trees in a winter. A man who is 



