254 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
how these little “quill-pigs,” as they are popu- 
larly called, defend themselves with their tails, 
thrashing them about till the nose of a dog or 
other animal is full of bristles; the dogs in- 
stinctively fear this, and seize the creature by 
the head, where the bristles turn the other way, 
and cannot hurt. The hedgehog is in winter 
the chief food of the “fisher-cat,” and this in 
turn is trapped for its fur. This small quad- 
ruped is jet black, with a few white hairs; is as 
large as a large cat, but is shaped like a mink, 
having short legs. The fisher-cat and sable — 
pronounced uniformly “saple” — climb trees 
like cats, in pursuit of squirrels, and will run 
from tree to tree as easily as the game they 
hunt, though unable to spring like them through 
the air. Both of these species are active and 
daring, venturing sometimes into the hunters’ 
camps at night in search of food. The ordi- 
nary wildcat, or “bob-cat,” or “lucivee ” (loup- 
cervier) is also found on Moosilauke, but not 
the larger “catamount,” or that half-mythical 
beast known among Maine lumbermen as the 
“Indian devil.” This bob-cat is often as large 
to the eye as a Newfoundland dog, but its fur 
is so deceptively thick that it really does not 
weigh more than thirty pounds. Merrill was 
eloquent about its shriek at night. “When you 
hear it near you,” he said, “it makes every 
