THE OUILLS OF A PORCUPINE 
27 
Photo from U. S. Forest Service 
SOME OF the: pack of DOGS WHICH ATTACKED THE PORCUPINE WITH SUCH 
DISASTROUS RESUETS: WAEEOWA NATIONAL FOREST, OREGON 
This photograph shows Forest Service hunter J. K. Carper coming to camp with the hide 
of a grizzly bear that he had killed near the scene of the fight, while patrolling the coyote- 
proof sheep pasture. 
points deeper into the flesh. The old 
dogs, who had been through similar ex- 
periences before, would come up and 
allow the quills to be pulled out as long 
as they could stand the pain, and then 
break away to paw and plow again. 
When the few superficial quills had 
been removed the real work of saving 
the dogs' lives began. We took off our 
coats, set our guns against a tree, and 
went at the task. One by one the dogs 
were caught. Sitting upon the animal's 
crouching body, Carper held the head 
between his knees, gripping ear and jaw 
in his powerful grasp, while I pulled out 
the quills. 
The main part of a porcupine quill is 
smooth and white and has the tough, 
flexible texture of the quill of a bird's 
feather, but for a distance of about half 
an inch from the needle-sharp point the 
quill is hard, black, slender, and armed 
with innumerable barbs. The quills vary 
greatly in length, thickness, and amount 
of barbing, the shorter and stouter ones 
having the longest points and most ef- 
fective barbs, the larger, thinner quills 
gradually merging into the long, coarse 
hairs of the animal's pelt. 
A long-pointed quill with the barbed 
portion fully imbedded in the nose of a 
dog often resisted the strongest pull that 
either of us could give, notwithstanding 
an excellent hold on the body of the 
quill between the thumb and the bent 
forefinger. The pain must have been 
intense. The most resistant quills were 
pulled either by the teeth or by impro- 
vised pliers made of a half-split stick, in 
the crack of which the quill was caught 
and tightly held. 
I was assured afterward by an old 
woodsman that an imbedded quill could 
be removed more easily and with less 
