FLASHLIGHT STORY OF PORCUPINE AND COON 



595 



This was the last picture taken, and the coon was induced to climb 15 feet up a maple by 

 baiting a detached string every 6 inches. At the top he was rewarded with a fat duck, con- 

 nected by a string with the flash. However, the flash so frightened him that he fled without 

 the duck. Photo by George Shiras, 3rd. 



While at work I heard a slight move- 

 ment in the dry leaves beyond, and turn- 

 ing the jack-light in that direction, saw 

 only the two glowing eyes of the hungry 

 visitor. And here it may be remarked, 

 parenthetically, that while the eyes of all 

 predaceous animals possess a wonderful 

 luminosity when reflecting back the rays 

 of a light at night, the porcupine and all 

 other rodents, with one or two excep- 

 tions, do not glow at all. 



"Returning to the house-boat and put- 

 ting out the light, only a few minutes 

 elapsed before the brilliant glare of the 

 exploding flashlight was seen through 



the open windows. Quick as we were, 

 the coon had disappeared on discovering 

 what terrible things resulted from simply 

 pulling at a little piece of cheese on the 

 end of a string. 



"August 22, 1903. — Went down the 

 river to camp in order to develop last 

 night's flashlight of the coon, and found, 

 on developing the negative, he preferred 

 the cheese to the fish (see page 584). 

 The dead chickens left beyond the fence 

 at camp were undisturbed — fairly con- 

 clusive evidence that our visitor at the 

 house-boat was the one guilty of tl e 

 former depredation. Getting a good 



