vii A WOODLAND CODGER 2O5 



ground with his hind feet, after the manner of a 

 hare, jerks himself toward the object of his dread, 

 as if to wound it with his spines, and at the same 

 time produces a curious noise, by rattling the open 

 quills of the tip of his tail." 



This animal is still fairly numerous in Greece, 

 Italy, and Sicily, and formerly ranged throughout 

 Southern Europe; south of the Mediterranean it 

 extends from Tunis to Morocco, and southward 

 into the Soudan. A closely similar species takes 

 the place of this one in Syria, and ranges thence 

 eastward to India, where it injures tank-walls by 

 its burrowing, and often destroys vegetable crops : 

 hunting it with dogs is a favorite sport in the hill- 

 regions. Four or five smaller species, without 

 nuchal crests, inhabit northeast India and the 

 Malayan coasts and islands ; and fossil species of 

 Hystrix belong to the upper Tertiary rocks of 

 both Asia and Europe. South Africa has also a 

 local kind of porcupine. Lastly, mention must 

 be made of the brush-tailed porcupines, of the 

 genus Atherura, two species of which are found 

 in the Malayan region, and one in West Africa ; 

 they are smaller than the foregoing, and rejoice in 

 long tails tipped with a bunch of peculiar flattened 

 scales. A still more specialized form inhabits 

 Borneo. Such are the Old World representatives 

 of the tribe ; and they differ from their New World 

 cousins more in anatomical peculiarities and an 

 indisposition to climb trees than in anything else. 



