438 LABRADOR 



stream to see what the matter was. Finding the dam, he 

 coolly pulled out the mud and caulking, and lowered the 

 level again to suit his pleasure. When, however, the 

 loggers rebuilt the dam, the beaver very philosophically 

 moved house and rebuilt in a pool much higher up-stream. 



Erethizon dorsatum picinum. The porcupine is not very 

 common, but is considered by our settlers as the best eat- 

 ing of any of the animals. The flavor differs with the 

 season, and it is best in summer and fall, when he lives 

 mostly on berries. In the spring he is apt to be " sprucy, " as 

 at that time he lives in the trees, and eats practically noth- 

 ing but bark. As he prefers the soft bark, he often kills 

 the trees, but though he destroys our small firs, often as 

 many as a hundred in a winter, he is not so numerous as to be 

 a serious economic danger. Perhaps it is as well that our 

 herbivorous mammals choose different ways of meeting the 

 winter. Thus, the bears sleep, the rabbits eat young 

 birch, the squirrel stores food, the porcupine keeps to 

 conifers. In spite of his succulency he has little to fear 

 from his enemies except man. His short thick quills 

 are barbed as well as sharp, and many a dog, wolf, or fox 

 has attempted his life at the cost of their own. Once a 

 quill gets well set in, every movement drives it on, so that 

 festering sores are caused all over the body. Dogs get them 

 in their tongues, and I have seen a fox skin spoiled by big 

 sores left from the wounds of the quills. 



Thalarctus maritimus. Most specimens of the polar 

 bear which are taken now have come south on the floe ice 

 in pursuit of the seal herds which have their young on it at 

 about the latitude of North Newfoundland. They are our 

 greatest travellers. I have found no instances of their 



