VII A Woodland codger 193 



strike against each other and produce ... a pe- 

 cuUar continuous sound. We can, I think, under- 

 stand why porcupines have been thus provided, 

 through the modification of their protective spines, 

 with this special, sound-producing instrument. 

 They are nocturnal animals, and if they scented 

 or heard a prowling beast of prey, it would be a 

 great advantage to them, in the dark, to give warn- 

 ing to their enemy what they were and that they 

 were furnished with dangerous spines." 



One now sees how aptly the fellow is named 

 "porcupine," — a corruption of the Old French 

 words pore espm, meaning "spiny pig." This, in 

 fact, seems to have been the original import of 

 the Latin Jiystrix, — the family name, derived 

 from a Greek compound noun signifying " hairy 

 pig." The Spanish, Portuguese, and Italians use 

 substantially the same term, while the German 

 nations have translated it into stachelschwein, 

 stekel-vark, etc., meaning " stickle-hog." The 

 early English spellings and quaint variants, such" 

 asporcupig, forkentine, purpentine, and the like 

 are innumerable. Buffon's term, I'tirsott, was a 

 rather fantastic figment, intended to indicate by 

 the first syllable that it resembled a bear's cub, 

 and, by the second, to remind one that its home 

 was about the bay of Hudson, for whom Buffon 

 professed great admiration. 



The porcupine is a denizen of the woods and 

 rarely leaves them for the farmers' fields, while 



