VII A WOODLAND CODGER 201 



The animal can hardly be said to have a home ; 

 but he uses a hollow tree as a tenement, or even a 

 hole among the rocks. As warm weather ap- 

 proaches, the female produces two or three young, 

 which, according to Dr. Merriam, are monstrous 

 for the size of the mother. They are actually 

 larger, he assures us, and relatively more than 

 thirty times larger, than the young of the black bear 

 at birth. The female has four pectoral mammae. 



Their flesh is eaten by the Indians, but has 

 never been liked by white men. The use of the 

 quills in ornamentation by our Indians is well 

 known, robes, garments, moccasins, belts, pouches, 

 weapon-cases, baskets, and everything else being 

 ornamented with them by the squaws with great 

 skill and often with truly artistic effect; but as 

 usual the earliest methods and patterns, when the 

 Indians used their own delicate dyes and sinew 

 threads, were much better than is seen in these 

 days of aniline colors and crude imitations of the 

 white man's art. The application may be made in 

 any of three or four ways, as, by weaving or sew- 

 ing the quill into the texture of the object itself; 

 by winding it transversely about the thread that 

 forms the applique pattern ; by interweaving it 

 with the strands of a basket or lashing ; or by glu- 

 ing it upon the surface. The native South Amer- 

 icans did not practise this art, although they made 

 a somewhat similar use of bird-quills, as, on the 

 other hand, was not done in the northern continent. 



