ERETHIZONTID^ 179 



Length about 760 mim. (30' inches) ; tail vertebrje 215 

 (8.50); hind foot 108 (4.25). 



Type locahty, northwestern North America. 



Western Porcupines are found from the Sierra Nevadas to 

 Alaska. They are common in a few localities ,but are almost un- 

 known in large areas within their range. They occur south to 

 the San Bernardino Mountains, one having been killed there in 

 1903, and they were occasionally seen there when these mountains 

 were first known to white people. They seem to be lacking in all 

 the coast mountains of Caifornia. They frequent the coniferous 

 forests of the mountains and the higher valleys. 



When wild fruits are in season these form the principal item 

 of food of the Porcupines; such as wild gooseberries, wild cttr- 

 rants, plums, etc. Cultivated fruits are also eaten, and I heard 

 complaints of their damaging apple trees in the northeastern part 

 of California by breaking off the smaller limbs in getting at the 

 apples, and of the waste of apples, these having been dropped af- 

 ter having been bitten. When fruits are not obtainable these 

 animals subsist on leaves, twigs, or sometimes on the inner bark 

 of coniferous trees. They are fond of salt, and I saw a churn and 

 a cheese press that had been gnawed by Porcupines, apparently to 

 get a taste of salt. Townsend .saw a pine stump eighteen inches in 

 diameter that had been gnawed away by Porcupines; salt had 

 been placed on the stump for horses to lick. 



I found Western Porcupines common about Goose Lake, 

 Modoc County, where Lhey inhabited the crevices of lava cliffs. I 

 saw one run from a thicket of wild gooseberries in the daytime 

 and on shooting it found the stomach full of gooseberries. This 

 one weighed nearly twenty five pounds. The gait is slow, one can 

 easily outrun them. 



