166 



PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



produced the weird-like sound that had caused me so much 

 alarm, my companion assuring me that at the period the 

 sexes came together, if rivals are in the way, the call or 

 note of defiance is quite dissimilar from their general voice. 

 Early in spring the young are born. At first they are 

 very small. In six weeks they are able to accompany their 

 mother, who cares for them with the greatest solicitude 

 and attention, hauling the logs on one side for the cubs to 



CANADIAN PORCUPINE. 



obtain the coveted grubs and larvae underneath, pulling 

 down the uppermost branches that produce fruit; and if by 

 accident the young should be placed in a position of danger, 

 her life is always willingly sacrificed in their defense. . 



Walking across a portage in Maine, close to the borders 

 of New Brunswick, in front of the party of which I was a 

 member, my gun loaded, in the hope of killing a grouse or 

 two, I perceived a small animal, about the size of a King 

 Charles spaniel, running along the track a hundred or more 



