VII 



A WOODLAND CODGER 



THE porcupine is one of the queerest, and by 

 no means the prettiest, of our sylvan friends. 

 His broad, lumpish body, twice the bigness of a 

 woodchuck, is modelled upon the shape of an 

 egg ; the nose is blunt, the legs are short, and one 

 wonders how this Falstaff of the woods can 

 scramble over the rocks and up and down trees 

 as well as he does. But for something to laugh 

 at, get the queer little codger to sit up on his hams, 

 with his tail planted behind, like one foot of a 

 tripod. 



He seems truly a witless, slow, unsociable beast, 

 working at night for the most part, more from 

 churlishness than for any practical reason, minding 

 his own business, and insisting that his neighbors 

 attend strictly to theirs. He may even be quarrel- 

 some when interfered with, and Shakespeare hit it, 

 as usual, when he characterized the porcupine as 

 "fretful." He will never take the trouble to be 

 aggressive ; but he knows he is well prepared, 

 and resists an enemy with such vigor that he is 

 rarely overcome. He is much better armed than 



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