ERETHIZON DORSATUS. 
203 
remarkably broad across the back. His legs are short. The soles 
of his plantigrade feet are broad and naked, like those of the bear, 
and his claws are large, well-curved, and channelled beneath. His 
tail is most extraordinary. It is a large, ponderous, and somewhat 
four-sided structure, capable of dealing a powerful blow. 
The entire upper surface of the animal, from in front of the eyes 
to the tip of the tail, the cheeks, sides of the neck, body and tail, 
the shoulders, flanks, and hips, are densely covered with thickly-set 
stout spines, varying from less than an inch (25.5 mm.) to more 
than four and one quarter inches (108 min.) in length. These 
spines or quills, which in a state of rest are directed backward, are 
connected at their bases with a layer of muscle by which they may 
be erected at will. The mature quills cling so loosely to the skin 
that they are easily detached, and their finely barbed tips cause 
them to adhere to any animal with which they come in forcible 
contact. After having penetrated the skin, the tendency is to ad- 
vance, and the muscular action of their victim causes them to 
become more and more deeply imbedded. There is no part of the 
body to which they may not travel. I have found them in the hind 
leg of a fisher, firmly fixed between the tibia and fibula. 
The Porcupine, owing to this formidable dermal armature, has 
but few enemies. Chief among them, as has already been shown 
(Vol. I, pp. 30, and 48-50), are the panther and fisher ; and since 
these powerful Carnivores have become rare in the Adirondacks, 
the Porcupine has been, and still is, on the increase. He is occa- 
sionally attacked by wolves, eagles,* and the great-horned owl. 
He is a pretty strict vegetarian, deriving the greater part of his 
sustenance from different kinds of browse and bark. Among the 
conifers, the hemlock furnishes the most palatable food, for he is 
found upon it more often than upon any other evergreen. He 
* In Forest and Stream of March 20, 1884 (p. 144), Mr. J. L. Davison, of Lockport, N. Y., 
states that he had recently examined a golden eagle that had been shot at Plessis, Jefferson County, 
N. Y. He says : “ The feet of the eagle were full of porcupine quills, which was probably the 
last animal he had dined off, and about as hot a meal as he ever had.” 
