MAMMALS. 67 



chalet was being built porcupines were numerous and troublesome 

 about the construction camp. Their principal mischief consisted in 

 cutting the tent ropes at night so that the tents would often fall over 

 before morning. The^y also did some damage to the camp provisions, 

 being esjoecially keen in their search for bacon and salt pork. The 

 cook finally vowed vengeance- on all porcupines and, armed with a 

 stout club-, is said to have slain 150 of them at night about the camp 

 before their raids ceased to be troublesome. This was evidently at 

 the crest of their wave of abundance, as it is well known that they 

 increase slowly until in many jilaces they become numerous and then 

 decrease for a term of years until they are again scarce. 



During the summer of 1917 porcupines were moderately common 

 throughout the park and were occasionally seen along the trails or 

 about the camps and chalets. Their little flat-footed, oval, rough- 

 soled, toed-in tracks are often seen in the dust along the trails which 

 they sometimes follow for miles at night, and occasionally one of the 

 animals is overtaken as it shuffles slowly along on its short legs. M. I. 

 Berger Avas fortunate enough to meet one wlien the light was strong 

 enough for a good photograph. Their presence is more often noticed, 

 however, by the patches of raw wood on the pine trees from which 

 they have gnawed the bark for food, and one needs onlj' to ride 

 through the forest to learn how common porcupines are in any section, 

 or examine the scars to tell in what j^ear they were most numerous. 



In almost every camp and abandoned cabin in the park one 

 may see where the animals have gnawed the floors or doors, boxes, 

 tables, or any wood that has becomei impregnated with salt or 

 grease or a flavor of camp food. Boxes in which camp supplies have 

 been, kept are usually almost devoured ; sometimes only a few boards 

 are left that have not been chewed up by the porcupines. The boards 

 of an old floor are sometimes gnawed through, and the table if left 

 in a greasy and soiled condition is likely to be entirely eaten up. 

 JMarks of the big chisel-like incisors of porcupines show on the boards 

 and in wood that has been gnawed, and their large oval sawdust pel- 

 lets are generally found scattered around the floor of an old camp. 

 At some of the camps the quills and bones of animals -previously 

 killed by campers are found, but unless the animals are so numerous 

 as to be really troublesome they are usually not disturbed. 



At the lower end of Glenn Lake I came across a camping party 

 from the farming country below, spending a week in the beautiful 

 valley, and the man finding that I was interested in the animal life, 

 showed me a very large porcupine which he had that morning killed 

 at camp. It proved to be a handsome old male with a rich coat of 

 long yellow hairs and a dense armor of quills bedded in the black 

 fur underneath. Several men who lifted it estimated its weight at 



