-o perfectly from their attacks. Occasionally the 

 fox or the lynx or the big owl tackles him, 

 C raiui iliff wnen hunger becomes intolerable and they 

 LUf/IJif/g UfH> must eat or die; but to touch the huge chest- 

 nut bur anywhere is to fill one's mouth with 

 quills ; and behind the bur is the lively tail, 

 always ready to drive in the tormenting barbs 

 by the dozen. Pequam alone has learned the 

 secret of safe attack, and kills a porcupine 

 whenever he is hungry and can find no 

 better meat. Trappers take his skin, but 

 rarely find any deeply imbedded quills to tell 

 of these encounters ; while the late winter 

 pelts of fox and lynx often show only too 

 plainly how they have been punished in try- 

 ing to satisfy their hunger. 



A curious trail in the deep snow led me, 

 one day, to what may be the secret of Pe- 

 quam's success. He had crossed the clumsy 

 trail of a porcupine and loped along it rapidly, 

 till with a rush he headed Unk Wunk before 

 the latter could climb a tree and escape the 

 attack. For not even Pequam would dare 

 follow along a branch and expose his face to 

 the blow of Unk Wunk's tail. The tracks 



