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JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
guessed at, as we had only the one piece of evidence, but numerous traps spread 
out in other places than this alder thicket with one exception, yielded nothing. 
This was across the stream, perhaps 80 feet away, where the beaver had worn a 
path through the sod in climbing up a steep bank. About 5 feet up the bare 
path ceased, and under the overhanging sod were two mouse holes. One was 
right in the center of the path and there was no possible chance but that the 
beaver would spring any trap set there before the mouse got into it, but the other 
hole was at one side, and there I made a little shelf with my knife and set the 
trap which caught a Napceozapus the next morning. Further trapping at this 
point was fruitless, but the holes looked good, even when we left. In view of 
this little insight into the habits of this species I should feel rather confident 
of trapping it in alder thickets along beaver streams when the fruit of the alders 
was ready to eat. 
The beautiful colors of these mice faded rapidly, and when the last one was 
caught Mr. F. W. Fraser kindly gave me a painting of the fresh specimen in 
accurate colors. An interesting feature of this new acquaintance is the instant 
identification by means of the size, color, and tail. Often have I tried to study 
a hudsonius into an insignis in vain; but when insignis was taken, there was never 
a doubt, nor any need to turn to a description. I should say that insignis weighs 
50 to 100 per cent more than hudsonius; the colors, similar in the museum speci- 
men, are much more vivid, and the tail is so much heavier at the base, as to be 
an immediate mark of recognition. — W; E. Saunders, London, Ontario. 
AN INQUISITIVE PORCUPINE 
Just at dusk on the evening of June 12, 1919, I caught sight of an adult porcu- 
pine {Erethizon dorsatum) coming along a road through heavy timber in the 
Penokee Eange, 8 miles southwest of Mellen, Wisconsin. I remained standing 
still. He approached in his slow, deliberate way, absolutely unaware of my 
presence. The air was calm, there being no detectable breeze. At a distance 
of about 20 feet from me the animal stopped, looked up and around in different 
directions, and sniffed the air. He evidently was either rather suspicious or 
detected the odor of food. But he remained there only a second or two, then 
continued to within 15 feet, again stopped, looked directly at me, and sniffed 
for nearly 2 minutes, his nose in the air toward me all the while. Meantime I 
withstood scores of biting mosquitoes and remained perfectly silent. After 
^'sizing up” the situation, so to speak, the porcupine changed his course an angle 
of 45 degrees and came directly toward me. I remained silent until he began 
gnawing my leather putees, when I thought it time to protest, so I made a slight 
movement, and “porkie” scampered away and hid among the logs and brush by 
the roadside. — Hartley H. T. Jackson, U. S. Biological Survey, W ashington, 
D. C. 
GRAYSQUIRRELS AND NUTS 
At the National Zoological Park in Washington on January 23 last, I saw a 
graysquirrel burying a nut. It is commonly supposed that this instinct is active 
only in autumn. Can any one give observations to show that it is operative the 
