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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ing up to the porcupine, he ran his nose into its fur, 

 evidently with the intention of ascertaining what kind of 

 game his master had been killing; but he withdrew his 

 muzzle very much quicker than he had inserted it, and as 

 he did so, it was seen to be most elegantly ornamented 

 with a fine bouquet of spines or quills, some of which 

 were three or four inches long. A howl followed this ex- 

 ploit, and the lieutenant spent the best part of an hour in 

 extracting the vicious spines from the poor dog's snout. 

 Cougars, when hungry, will sometimes tackle a porcu- 

 pine for a meal, and always with the result of sticking 



AMERICAN PORCUPINE 



Figure 15. This is one of Mr. Elwin R. Sanborn's best animal pictures, 

 and is here published by his permission through the courtesy of the 

 New York Zoological Society. 



the mucous membrane of the mouth full of quills, from 

 the wounds of which death is almost sure to ensue. 

 When I was with an expedition m the Big Horn Moun- 

 tains, a fine mountain lion was found dead ; upon ex- 

 amination it was soon ascertained that it had been the 

 victim of an experience of this kind. The same thing has 

 happened to wolves, coyotes, and semi-domesticated dogs 

 about Indian camps in the Northwest; for this reason 

 the Indians of that region detest the animal, and it Is 

 likely that many a one has been killed by them through 

 sheer revenge. It has also been reported that lynxes 

 have met with a similar fate ; getting their mouth cavi- 

 ties stuck full of quills, they have died in consequence, 



due in part, to the inflammation set up, and also to the 

 fact that owing to the structure of a quill, it will work 

 its way through the flesh until it, in time, punctures some 

 one of the main arterial vessels of the neck, when death 

 follows. Why these slender, cylindrical little quills be- 

 have in this manner after they get into the flesh is 

 easily perceived, as each one is reversely barbed along 

 its farthest extremity, so that, once favorably implanted 

 in the flesh, the victim is quite unable to extract it. 

 Through the involuntary muscles of the part it is caused 

 to work deeper and deeper, eventually terminating as 

 just stated. 



The Fisher, however, very frequently gets away with 

 a porcupine; this is done by attacking it at the throat, 

 where the fur is short and soft, and the quills practically 

 absent. But even the Fisher in his eagerness to kill 

 sometimes makes a mistake, and in the mix-up the por- 

 cupine may get a chance to whack him in the face with 

 his heavy, spiny tail, driving home a score or two of 

 good, big quills. These produce the usual amount of 

 intense pain, and may later terminate the career of the 

 incautious musteline. 



Porcupines have five toes on the hinder pair of feet, 

 all armed with long, curved claws, while the front pair, 

 similarly provided, has but four toes each. Their ears 

 are small and quite concealed in the surrounding fur ; 

 the tail is moderately short, and the eyes comparatively 

 small and lacking in animation. Late in the spring the 

 female gives birth to her two young, breeding, as a rule, 

 but once during the year. A hollow tree is commonly 

 selected for her nest, though other situations are occa- 

 sionally chosen. A well-known writer states that they 

 are "hardly fit for food; and as in all vegetable feeders 

 among wild game, are not infrequently infested with in- 

 testinal worms. Much of their time during the day i- 

 spent in sleep ; but when abroad they feed upon the bark 

 of a number of varieties of trees, often denuding, in the 

 case of a single animal, as many as a hundred trees dur- 

 ing a season. In this way it is very destructive ; and 

 when once it attacks a tree, it usually never leaves it, 

 except to repair at night to its nest, until every vestige 

 of bark has been eaten off." 



In most eastern districts porcupines are now becom- 

 ing quite rare; and while they are fully capable of be- 

 coming domesticated, they are not, upon the whole, 

 very engaging pets. It is said that the animal, during 

 "the night, often gives vent to a low and peculiar cry, 

 which, once heard, is not easily forgotten ; its well- 

 known growl when teased is quite characteristic. 



When feeding, these animals will often sit up like a 

 "prairie dog," and use their forepaws to hold their 

 food while they gnaw it ; they are fond of green corn, 

 fruit of most kinds, and almost any of the garden vege- 

 tables. They will gnaw the prongs of the skulls of 

 antelopes found on the plains, or the antlers of dead 

 deer, or the horns of cattle that have died or been killed 

 near their haunts. Indeed, porcupines will chew and eat 

 (Continued on page 180) 



