VII A WOODLAND CODGER I91 



time to come that it rarely notices the escape of its 

 would-be victim. Every movement of the muscles 

 causes them to penetrate deeper; and there seems 

 no limit to their inflammatory and often fatal trav- 

 els. Dr. Merriam says that he has found them 

 everywhere in animals that he has dissected, once 

 discovering a whole quill between the two leg 

 bones of the hind limb of a fisher. Nevertheless, 

 the porcupine is occasionally attacked and killed 

 by panthers, wild-cats, wolves, martens, eagles, and 

 owls, but this usually happens, probably, under the 

 stress of extreme hunger and in winter, as in the 

 case related a moment ago. Few dogs seem to 

 have sense enough to let him alone ; and it is be- 

 cause so many of these are injured that hunters 

 regard the porcupine as vermin, and kill it at every 

 opportunity. 



But the animal is not content merely to curl up 

 and let an enemy come to grief upon his defences, 

 for he possesses in his thick, triangular, muscular 

 tail, along the sides of which grow the stiffest and 

 strongest of quills, a powerful weapon for active 

 warfare. I was once, with a friend, climbing one 

 of the Catskill peaks, when we ran across a porcu- 

 pine and quickly cornered it in a nook of rocks. 

 Ducking its head between its fore feet, swelling up 

 and turning its back upon us, it instantly bristled 

 all over until it looked like a big ripe chestnut 

 burr. Its tail seemed to offer a sort of handle, 

 however, and before I could remonstrate, my 



