THE CANADIAN PORCUPINE 2OI 



like a burr. The colour of this quaint porcupine is 

 blackish brown above, the long hairs being tipped 

 with white ; the spines, which may attain a length of 

 four inches, are almost entirely white, the points 

 being generally dark brown or black. The under 

 surface of the animal is dark brown. The general 

 hue varies from light yellowish brown to dull white, 

 according to the paleness or intensity of colour in 

 the superficial furry covering. Those from Lower 

 Canada are black, those from the Far West light 

 grey ; all, however, are but varying phases of one 

 mutable species. 



The Canadian porcupine may well be termed the 

 sloth of the northern hemisphere. Secure in its 

 bristling armoury of bayonets, it troubles little about 

 its enemies ; the most sluggish of all the North 

 American wild animals, it will spend days methodi- 

 cally rifling the branches of a single tree. Although 

 the tail is not prehensile, its long claws enable it to 

 climb readily ; once up, it stays up, and will not leave 

 the tree till it has stripped it bare ; then it descends 

 to attack the next one, and so on. The porcupine 

 feeds chiefly on the bark of the hemlock spruce, but 

 also on slippery elm, cotton tree, bay tree and bass- 

 wood ; young trees are chosen for preference, the 

 dainty creature only eating the soft inner fibres. 

 Nearly a hundred trees may be ruined in a single 

 winter by the depredations of one animal ; destroyed 

 as perfectly as if by fire, acres of saplings may be 



