588 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photo by George Shiras, 3rd 



THIS PICTURE SHOWS THE ANIMAL PACING THE CAMERA AND PULING VIGOROUSLY 



WHEN THE FLASH WENT OFF 



trating power of the flashlight made 

 such a picture possible. Some of the 

 smoke of the powder drifted toward it, 

 causing instant departure and suggest- 

 ing an unusual development of scent in 

 an animal not ordinarily dependent upon 

 it, due, perhaps, to the impairment of 

 the other senses (see page 575). 



The several pictures of the previous 

 year had brought out the fact that only 

 one other albino specimen was known to 

 exist, now preserved in a Vermont mu- 

 seum, and in consequence it was sug- 

 gested that I capture or kill the animal 

 in case it appeared the following season. 

 This I was unwilling to do, and, as 

 events proved, the wisdom of letting 



this freak of nature live and die a nat- 

 ural death was duly rewarded, for every 

 year from 1901 to 1906 I succeeded in 

 getting from one to ten flashlight pic- 

 tures of this animal, and, aside from the 

 pictorial value, was able to learn much 

 about habits that were greatly modified 

 through infirmities due to albinism. 



Only once was it seen in full sunlight, 

 and on that occasion I was not only able 

 to substitute "her" for "it," but to de- 

 termine the color of the eyes and the 

 question of eyesight, scent, and hearing. 



It was during June, 1904, that I en- 

 tered the lake one morning with a party 

 of friends, en route to Whitefish Falls, 

 and we then observed three porcupines 



