162 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
sluggish, stupid northern porcupine, whose re- 
lation to man is far more to the good than to 
the bad. It is true that he strips a few forest 
trees of their foliage, and occasionally inad- 
vertently girdles one; but his flesh is excellent 
eating and large in quantity. His nature and 
habits make it possible to approach him with- 
out difficulty and to kill him with a club. 
Hence he has always been a reliance of the 
forest-dwelling Indians and white fur-hunters 
for winter food, and now it is of so much impor- 
tance in the great forested regions of the 
Northern States, and in Canada, that timber- 
cruisers and others whose business takes them 
into the wilderness should be able to find a 
poreupine in such emergencies as are always 
likely to arise in their adventurous lives, espe- 
cially in winter, that the animal is protected 
by law; and this law is well lived up to by the 
frontier folks for they appreciate its impor- 
tance. 
At the same time it must be confessed that 
porcupines make themselves very troublesome 
in camps or about houses in the woods which 
are left alone for a time, as often happens 
