Feb., 191 2. Mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 257 



respect by predatory animals, afford no defense against a rifle or shot 

 gun. While largely nocturnal in habits, it often goes about in the day- 

 time, and I have met with it on several occasions in the north woods, 

 generally perched in a tree, calmly eating a late breakfast and, aside 

 from an occasional glance in my direction, paying no attention to me 

 whatever. If approached too closely, however, it ''bristles up," 

 elevating its quills and shaking its tail angrily, a warning which it is 

 well to heed, for, although contrary to a popular superstition, the 

 animal cannot eject its quills, it can strike a hard blow with its armed 

 tail, and the sharp quills, which are loosely held in the skin, are fur- 

 nished with minute barbs near the ends and make a painful wound. 



Porcupines vary considerably in size, the average weight of a full 

 grown male being probably about 16 or 18 pounds. A large one which 

 I killed weighed 23 pounds, but Rhoads states they occasionally, when 

 fat, reach a weight of 35 or 40 pounds.* Their favorite food seems to 

 be the leaves, twigs and bark of the hemlock, but they also eat the leaves 

 and bark of the maple, bass-wood, birch and other trees when those 

 they prefer are not available. In spring and summer their food is 

 more varied and they eat the leaves of various plants, but show a 

 partiality to lily-pads. Beechnuts are also included in their bill-of- 

 fare, and Dr. Merriam states he has killed several whose stomachs were 

 distended with beechnut meal.f In Canada and in the northern 

 portion of Michigan and Wisconsin they frequent the vicinity of lum- 

 ber camps and show a decided fondness for any substance which has a 

 salty flavor, such as old pork rinds, and they have often been known 

 to gnaw to pieces old butter firkins and boxes which have contained 

 salty food of any kind. 



The Porcupine makes a variety of noises, the most famiHar being 

 a low whine and grunt. Audubon and Bachman state that at night 

 it occasionally utters "a shrill note which might be called a low querulous 

 shriek."J 



The young are born about the first of May and are generally two 

 in number, although a litter often consists of one and sometimes three. 

 At birth they are very large, compared to the relative size of other 

 young animals. Dr. Merriam says, "They are actually larger and 

 relatively more than thirty times larger than the young of the black 

 bear at birth. "§ 



In early days the quills of the Porcupine were much used by In- 

 dians in ornamenting baskets and embroidering skin garments, moc- 



* Mamm. Penn., 1903, p. 118. 



t Mamm. Adirondack Reg., 1886, p. 302. 



t Aud. & Bach., Quadrupeds of N. Amer., I, 1846, p. 283. 



§ Mamm. Adirondack Reg., 1886, p. 305. 



