PORCUPINE. 
289 
fearful, timid, and harmless. The porcupine never 
attempts to bite, but is always anxious to evade his 
pursuers. If hunted by a wolf, he climbs up the 
nearest tree, and waits there till he has completely 
exhausted the patience of his adversary : the wolf, 
being conscious that he is only wasting his time, 
leaves the porcupine to himself, and seeks out for 
some more penetrable game. When this animal 
meets with a serpent, against whom he carries on a 
perpetual war, he rolls himself up like a ball, con- 
cealing his head and feet, and then tumbles upon his 
enemy, and kills him with his bristles. 
Mr. Church gives an account of a live porcupine, 
which the late Sir Ashton Lever frequently turned 
on a grass-plat behind his house, to play with a 
tame hunting-leopard and a large Newfoundland 
dog. As soon as they were let loose, the leopard 
and dog began to pursue the porcupine, who always 
at first endeavoured to escape by flight ; but on 
finding that ineffectual, he would thrust his head into 
some corner, making a snorting noise, and erecting 
his spines ; with which his pursuers pricked their 
noses, till they quarrelled between themselves, and 
thus gave him an opportunity to escape. 
Porcupines are found in India, in Tartary, in 
Persia, and in all parts of Africa. They produce a 
bezoar, which was very highly valued, and used to 
sell for an enormous price, when it was the fashion 
to use that stone as a medicine. 
VOL. I. 
tJ 
