304 



RECR&ATLOX. 



be tn.idr to pick it up. it rolls up in a ball, 

 with its spines pointing in every direc- 

 tion. If placed on the ground on its back 

 it is in no hurry to unroll. In a few min- 

 utes, however, the quills begin to separate, 

 and you see a little nose and 4 feet pro- 

 truding from the center of the ball. As 

 it becomes more confident, the ball opens, 

 the little animal scrambles to its feet and 

 resumes the hunt for its daily bread. 



The hedgehog's quills are his most for- 

 midable weapon in resisting enemies other 

 than individuals of his kind, for although 

 I handled and tantalized many, they rarely 

 attempted to bite. Unlike our porcupine, 

 the European hedgehog does not shed his 

 quills. On skinning several, I found a 

 layer of muscular tissue attached to the 

 skin. This thickens abruptly into a band 

 of muscles on the sides, head and abdomen 

 beneath the roots of the quills, thus form- 

 ing a puckering string, so to speak, with 

 which the animal draws himself into a 

 ball. They are easily trapped. I secured 

 all I wanted by catching them in my hands 

 during evening walks, and was obliged to 

 go through the disagreeable operation of 

 killing them. They are slow to see dan- 

 ger; many times I have gone within a 

 few feet of them without being discovered. 

 I held 6 captive more than a week. They 

 were kept in a screen cage, placed on the 

 ground. During the day they slept, but 

 as night approached they became active, 

 and would scramble up the sides of the 

 cage as far as their short hind legs would 

 permit, in their attempts to escape. They 

 seemed totally unable to climb; and it 

 was nearly a week before they made an at- 

 tempt to escape by digging, and then they 

 succeeded only in scratching a slight hol- 

 low. On a floor their tread is heavy, — but 

 on the ground it is scarcely audible. 



J. A. Loring. 



A WEIRD SURVIVAL. 



Union, Ore. 



Editor Recreation: While hunting for 

 the Denver market, in the winter of 1861, 

 I came across and killed the strangest 

 animal I ever saw. I was making my way 

 through a ravine toward a small band of 

 antelope which I had seen near the head 

 of the gulch before I entered it. When 

 I thought I had reached a point opposite 

 the antelope, I crept cautiously up and 

 looked around. My game had disapoeared: 

 not an antelope was in sight. As I stood 

 pondering on the vicissitudes of the hunt- 

 er's life, my attention was attracted to my 

 right. Looking in that direction I saw 

 a strange animal passing on a good, round 

 trot, not over 10 rods away. 



Evidentlv he had not seen me, or if he 

 had he paid no attention, but kept his nose 



pointed straight ahead, and neither looked 

 to the right nor left. I drew a bead on 

 him and fired. At the report he changed 

 ends and died with scarcely a struggle. 



He was undoubtedly a member of the 

 canine family, though of a species un- 

 known to me. He would weigh about 100 

 pounds; stood very high at the shoulders 

 and low at the hips; legs rather short, 

 strong and muscular; hind legs crooked: 

 heavy, reddish brown mane on neck and 

 shoulders; sides bare as a lady's cheek and 

 almost as white and clean; back and belly 

 covered with a thin coat of short, grayish 

 brown hair; color lightest on belly. The 

 tail was almost hairless, except on the 

 end, where there was a bunch of coarse, 

 white hair. 



I did not save the skin, nor any part of 

 the animal, which I now regret exceeding- 

 ly. I was younger then than now, and 

 was naturally careless about such things, 

 not knowing but such animals might be 

 plentiful in that then almost unexplored 

 country. If I had suspected I was send- 

 ing the last of a race to join the great 

 army of extincts, I would at least have 

 saved the skin. 



If any of the many readers of Recrea- 

 tion have ever seen or heard of an animal 

 such as I have described, I should be 

 pleased to hear from them concerning it. 

 I can stand a reasonable amount of criti- 

 cism or guying, but if any serious excep- 

 tion is taken to the truth of this story I 

 can refer the doubting ones to Postmaster 

 A. K. Jones, Judge Robert Eaken, I. W. 

 Cromwell, M.D.; D. Y. Deering, M.D.. 

 and many other citizens of Union, Ore., 

 who have known me 20 years. 



W. F. Davis. 



ANSWER. 



The animal was probably a coyote, or a 

 grey wolf, disfigured and perhaps deformed 

 by disease. — Editor. 



BIRD AND ANIMAL CONVENTIONS. 

 Can any of your readers tell why birds 

 and animals meet in congress, or conven- 

 tion, at certain seasons. It is not for 

 breeding purposes, as it is at the wrong 

 time. The sexes of deer separate at the 

 proper time. I have counted over 60 does 

 in an hour's ride, with not a buck among 

 them, while on another ridge there were 

 many bucks. The grouse family pack, and 

 I think all the rasorials do. I have seen 

 many hundreds of quail in one bunch and 

 later they have separated for their respec- 

 tive ranges. Turkeys and crows do the 

 same, the latter just before they leave the 

 region where they were bred; and a noisv 

 congress it is. I have watched them with 

 a fieldglass, from an observatory, but am 

 unable to decide ii the ones that ascend a 



