Canada Porcupine 



he has been eaten; even the wily fisher is said to be occasion- 

 ally killed in this manner. 



The porcupine's home is usually a hollow log or cavern 

 among the rocks. 



Here he can sleep in comparative safety curled up with his 

 back to the entrance, presenting a most formidable chevaux 

 de frise against attack. 



In cold rough weather he stays indoors day and night, 

 probably endeavouring to sleep and forget his hunger. As soon 

 as it grows a little milder he crawls out and makes haste to 

 stuff himself with bark and green twigs to nourish him during 

 the next cold spell. 



When the snow melts at the approach of spring and the 

 new sap starts up under the bark to swell the buds in the 

 March sunshine he fares somewhat better, and long before the 

 last drift has vanished is able to gather a taste of young green 

 leaves along sunny banks beneath the evergreens, together with 

 the hardier sorts that winter under the snow, now laid bare 

 again to the sunlight. 



Porcupines are not prolific animals; a pair of twins to each 

 family early in the summer appears to be the general rule, the 

 youngsters being about as rough and ugly looking as their parents. 



POCKET GOPHERS 



(Family Geomyidce) 



These curious little animals are characterized by their large 

 cheek pouches opening outside the mouth, and their modified 

 fore feet with immense claws suited for digging. Their bodies 

 are heavy and their movements somewhat clumsy. The skull 

 is thick, and in the species of Geomys which is the only genus 

 represented in the East, the upper incisors are grooved. In the 

 allied genus Thomomys, which is abundantly represented in the 

 \Vest, this is not the case. (Illustration facing p. 104.) 



The gophers are nocturnal and live in communities, burrow- 

 ing in the ground like the marmots. They are very abundant 

 in our Western States and two species extend eastward into the 



