FLASHLIGHT STORY OF PORCUPINE AND COON 



591 



Photo by George Shiras, 3rd 



THK TOP OP A MOSSY LOG WAS BAITED WITH CHEESE : NOTE REELECTION OF EYE 



OF COON 



by the well-worn path to its cave. Often 

 we were on the lake awaiting its appear- 

 ance, and invariably the animal came 

 down to the bank at the same spot, usu- 

 ally between the hours of 7 and 8, and, 

 after going south for a distance of about 

 75 yards, it returned for the remainder 

 of the night to a narrow crevice in a 

 big glacial rock, located a short distance 

 behind the path leading to the water. It 

 may be worthy of note that the wind 

 was south every evening it appeared, and 

 that consequently the animal always fed 

 down wind — further evidence, perhaps, 

 of the dependence placed upon the nose. 



The several pictures tell their own 

 story of these evening journeys, year 

 after year, and of its cavernous home, 

 which later, enshrouded in the immacu- 

 late snows of Lake Superior, became its 

 tomb, in the winter of 1907. 



Feeling sure it was similarly deaf, we 

 all cried out in unison, but the animal 

 showed not the slightest heed. Finally 

 pushing around to the windward, the 

 porcupine showed instant alarm when 

 the scent reached it, and prepared to go 

 ashore. 



When off the log she circled a few 

 yards and finally took the same course 

 pursued by her young ; of this we were 

 certain, as she climbed over the same log 

 upon which the young porcupine entered 

 the forest. Several nights later the 

 camera pictured the white mother and 

 her little black cub astride the same log, 

 feeding on the damp, green moss at the 

 edge of the water (see page 578). 



During the six years that this animal 

 was under frequent observation, it never, 

 when alone, departed from the trail 

 along the shore or returned other than 



