162 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



sluggish, stupid northern porcupine, whose re- 

 lation to man is far more to the good than to 

 the bad. It is true that he strips a few forest 

 trees of their foliage, and occasionally inad- 

 vertently girdles one ; but his flesh is excellent 

 eating and large in quantity. His nature and 

 habits make it possible to approach him with- 

 out difficulty and to kill him with a club. 

 Hence he has always been a reliance of the 

 forest-dwelling Indians and white fur-hunters 

 for winter food, and now it is of so much impor- 

 tance in the great forested regions of the 

 Northern States, and in Canada, that timber- 

 cruisers and others whose business takes them 

 into the wilderness should be able to find a 

 porcupine in such emergencies as are always 

 likely to arise in their adventurous lives, espe- 

 cially in winter, that the animal is protected 

 by law; and this law is well lived up to by the 

 frontier folks for they appreciate its impor- 

 tance. 



At the same time it must be confessed that 

 porcupines make themselves very troublesome 

 in camps or about houses in the woods which 

 are left alone for a time, as often happens 



