FLASHLIGHT STORY OF PORCUPINE AND COON 



577 



Photo by George Shiras, 3rd 



PICTURED WHEN TRYING TO PASS UNDER BRUSH WHERE THE WATER WAS TOO DEEP ' 



JUNE 28, I9O3, 7-20 P. M. 



food, he may be momentarily in doubt ; 

 but otherwise it is hard to imagine two 

 animals that in habits or physical char- 

 acteristics are less alike. 



A porcupine is slow, clumsy, dull 

 witted, solitary, and of limited range ; 

 the coon is quick, cunning, often gregari- 

 ous, and a most energetic traveler. ( )ne 

 occupies crevices in the rocks or hollow 

 logs and in seclusion whenever possi- 

 ble, while the other prefers comfortable 

 quarters high up in the cavity of a living 

 tree, or in some portly stub that will 

 shelter all the members of his family or 

 such bachelor companions as he may 

 wish to consort with. 



THE PORCUPINE'S LOVE OE SAI/f IS 

 IRRESISTIBLE 



While the porcupine usually bears but 

 one young, it has so few predaceous ene- 

 mies willing to risk impalement upon the 

 thousand bristling quills, that this animal 

 would ordinarily increase more rapidly 



than the coon, with its numerous prog- 

 eny, were it not for the fatal habit of 

 visiting every human habitation near its 

 range in search of salt or anything pos- 

 sessing a saline flavor. 



Each homestead, trapper's cabin, or 

 lumber camp will in the spring attract 

 every porcupine for miles about ; and, if 

 these habitations be temporarily unoccu- 

 pied, the destruction is often most exten- 

 sive, for after devouring empty pork- 

 barrels and everything about the kitchen 

 door that has been saturated with brine 

 or grease from the sink, they are then 

 content to gnaw anything containing the 

 slightest salty flavor, and this includes 

 ax-handles, garden implements, gun- 

 stocks, pack-straps, harness, wooden 

 latches, door-jambs, or anything else that 

 the sweat from the hand leaves a trace 

 of salt upon. 



Many years ago, when it was custom- 

 ary to leave my hunting skiffs turned 

 bottom up beneath some heavy hemlock, 



