214 
THE STORY OF THE PORCUPINE. 
It is capable of depressing the bristling spears, and can squeeze itself through 
an opening which would appear at first sight to be hardly large enough to 
permit the passage of an animal of only half its size. 
When one of these animals has selected and settled himself in a tree to 
his liking, he may not leave it, day or night, until he has denuded it of the 
whole of its foliage. I have seen many hemlocks thus completely stripped, 
not a green twig remaining, even on the smallest bough. It seems incred¬ 
ible that so large and clumsy an animal should be able to> climb out far 
enough on the branches of trees to reach the terminal leaves; but he dis¬ 
tributes his weight by bringing several branches together, and then, with 
his powerful paws, bends back their ends and passes them through his mouth. 
When high in the tree-tops he is often passed unnoticed, mistaken, if seen 
at all, for the nest of a crow or a hawk. 
The Mexican tree-porcupine belongs to a family which has hair so long 
as almost to conceal the spines. It is easily distinguished by the uniform 
black color of the fur, and also by the presence of numerous spiny bristles 
mingled with the hair of the lower parts of the body. These bristles arise 
in small clusters, and being white for the greater part of their length, form 
star-like spots among the dark fur. These bristles and the spines on the 
back are black at the tips. 
This species inhabits the forests on the eastern coasts of Mexico. Noth¬ 
ing special is recorded of its habits; but from observations made on captive 
individuals it is probable that none of the tree-porcupines ever drink. It 
is stated that in those long-haired species in which the fur is of a grayish 
tint, the general appearance of the animal when reposing on the arm of 
a tree closely resembles a gnarled and lichen-clad knot. 
The brush-tailed porcupine, of which one species inhabits Western and 
Central Africa, and the other Burma and the Malayan region, are much 
smaller and more rat-like animals than the true porcupines, from which 
they are distinguished at a glance. 
A species of porcupine has been discovered in Borneo, distinguished 
by its short spines. 
From the large size of their teeth and jaws, porcupines have great 
gnawing powers, and the writer has seen in India tusk of elephants which 
have been half-eaten by these animals as they lay in the jungles. The flesh 
of porcupines is excellent eating, and resembles something between pork 
and veal in flavor. 
