606 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



"Well-conditioned adults average from 15 to 20 pounds 

 in weight/ 



"Their maximum weight when fat is very great, reaching 

 upward of 35 or 40 pounds."^ 



The general colour is a brownish black, but the tips of the 

 long hairs on the back are more or less white or yellowish-white, 

 especially on the shoulder. The front teeth are deep orange. 

 The quills, white with dark tips. They show chiefly on nape, 

 rump, and tail. 



In the museum at St. Johnsbury, Vt., is a pure albino 

 Porcupine. 



Two races are recognized: 



dorsatum, the typical form. 



picinum Bangs, distinguishable by its much blacker 

 colour. 



Life-history. 



RANGE Map 36 sets forth sufficiently the ranges of the species and 



races. That of dorsatum coincides, in Manitoba, nearly with 

 the Canadian faunal area. I have yet to hear of a specimen 

 taken beyond the indicated limits. 



HOME- The home-range of the individual is extraordinarily small. 



Audubon and Bachman cite^ a case of a Porcupine that con- 

 fined itself "to a space of about two acres of ground through 

 the winter." Hearne gives another good illustration of its 

 local fixity. He says:* "They are so remarkably slow and 

 stupid that our Indians, going with packets from Fort to Fort, 

 often see them in the trees, but, not having occasion for them 

 at that time, leave them till their return; and should their 

 absence be a week or ten days, they are sure to find them within 

 a mile of the place where they had seen them before." 



* Merriam Mam. Adir., 1884, p. 300. "^ Rhoads Mam. Penn., 1903, p. 118. 

 ^ Quad. N. A., 1849, Vol. I, p. 283. ■• Joum., 1795, p. 382. 



RANGE 



