A NIGHTLY PROWLEE. 257 



from which his quills afford no protection, so he 

 moves off. 



I once captured one in my wood shed, which had 

 busied hhnself for several nights previous by altering 

 the contours of the house and the ice-cream freezer. 

 It was night, I had no heart to kill the creature, so he 

 was left till morning under an inverted wash tub. 

 The next day, after furnishing the family with some 

 entertainment by his enticing looks, queer whining 

 noises (he had a shrill cry), and loudly chattering 

 teeth, he was invited to move on with the aid of a 

 shovel and was dispatched by the farm hand. He 

 weighed fully sixteen pounds. His back was broad, 

 his tail flattened and heavy, and his feet naked like a 

 bear's. His claws were large and curved, and these 

 with his peculiar tail showed very plainly that it 

 was not difficult for him to climb a tree. This pon- 

 derous tail of his is capable of dealing a tremendous 

 stinging blow laterally ; when he hits a dog with it 

 there is an immediate cessation of hostilities, the dog 

 retires with howls of pain, and then, while one de- 

 votes one's attention to extracting the quills in his 

 mouth, the porcupine gets away. These quills * un- 

 der a microscope are minutely rough with a sort of 



* They are artistically used by the Indians in the Northwest 

 for the decoration of birch-bark boxes, buckskin moccasins, leg- 

 gings, etc. ; often they are dyed a variety of colors. 

 18 



