SPECKLED TROUT 111 



And so they were ; he had blown or beaten them 

 nearly all off the poor creature's back, and was in a 

 fair way completely to disable my gun, the ramrod 

 of which was already broken and splintered clubbing 

 his victim. But a couple of shots from the revol- 

 ver, sighted by a lighted match, at the head of the 

 animal, quickly settled him. 



It proved to be an unusually large Canada porcu- 

 pine, — an old patriarch, gray and venerable, with 

 spines three inches long, and weighing, I should say, 

 twenty pounds. The build of this animal is much 

 like that of the woodchuck, that is, heavy and 

 pouchy. The nose is blunter than that of the wood- 

 chuck, the limbs stronger, and the tail broader and 

 heavier. Indeed, the latter appendage is quite club- 

 like, and the animal can, no doubt, deal a smart blow 

 with it. An old hunter with whom I talked 

 thought it aided them in climbing. They are in- 

 veterate gnawers, and spend much of their time in 

 trees gnawing the bark. In winter one will take 

 up its abode in a hemlock, and continue there till 

 the tree is quite denuded. The carcass emitted a 

 peculiar offensive odor, and, though very fat, was 

 not in the least inviting as game. If it is part of 

 the economy of nature for one animal to prey upon 

 some other beneath it, then the poor devil has in- 

 deed a mouthful that makes a meal off the porcu- 

 pine. Panthers and lynxes have essayed it, but 

 have invariably left off at the first course, and have 

 afterwards been found dead, or nearly so, with their 

 heads puffed up like a pincushion, and the quills 



