NO. 1147. MAMMALS OF THE CATSKILL MOUXTAINS—MEARNS. 347 



first painful lesson. Those that I caught gave utterance to grunting 

 and sniffing sounds, which were accompanied by nervous facial contor- 

 tions. At first they lashed out aimless lateral blows with their quilly 

 tails, but declined to bite even when teased. Soon, however, they 

 grew calm, behaving better after a short acquaintance; and it became 

 a painful task to kill such innocent and interesting animals. Although 

 sometimes annoyingly familiar, and prone to gnaw at things about 

 camps and cabins in the woods, porcupines are comparatively harmless 

 and should never be wantonly destroyed. It is to be hoped that such 

 colonies of ijorcupines as still exist on the peaks of the Catskills can 

 be preserved from extermination by creating a generous public senti- 

 ment in their favor. 



Of the six skins preserved two were adult females, two immature 

 females, and two, male and female, quite young. Adults differ from 

 the young and immature in having the hair and quills of the back 

 brown instead of black, though mixed, as in the others, with a few 

 long gray hairs. The quills are more yellowish than those of the 

 younger specimens, and the dark longitudinal band on the under side 

 of the tail is much redder. The youngest and only male specimen (No. 

 8307C, U.S.iSr.M.) is smaller than a cottontail rabbit. It is black, with 

 a sprinkling of long gray hairs all over except on the rump, middle of 

 upper and lower sides of tail, and portions of the head — the gray hairs 

 scattered most thickly across the shoulders, lumbar region, and along 

 the sides. The quills are short, almost concealed by hair, and colored 

 either black or white (never yellowish), and only visible on the crown, 

 cheeks, sides of rump, and tail. The claws are blackish. Another 

 young specimen (Xo. 83075, U.S.N.M.), twice the bulk of the above, 

 differs in color only in the absence of gray hairs on the middle of the 

 under surface. Two nearly adult females have the quills in part yel- 

 lowish instead of white; they cover the whole rump and conceal the 

 Jiair of the part; the under side of the tail is stained centrally with 

 rusty brown, and one specimen is becoming brownish on the back. 

 The color of the hair is black, with a sprinkling of long gray hairs 

 above. The quills cover most of the upper surface and sides of the 

 body. On the back the long hair overtops and conceals the quills, 

 while the reverse is the case on the rump and tail. 



Measurements. — Average of two adult females: Length, 078 mm.; 

 tail to end of vertebra, 190; tail to end of hairs, 230; length of head, 

 103; hind foot, 90 by 35; fore foot, 71 by 30; ear from anterior base, 

 29. Weight, 13 pounds. Mamm«, three pairs. 



ZAPUS HUDSONIUS (Zimmermann). 

 MEADOW JUMPING-MOUSE. 



Abundant along Schoharie Creek, but not found elsewhere in the 

 region. Nine specimens were trapped along the stream, amid thickets 

 of laurel, witch-hazel, blackberries, and other shrubbery. 



