Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-10-08
fHE FRETFUL POnCUPINE.
ZONE POPULAR IDEAS CONCERN
ING HIM DISSIPATED.
lie Does Not Throw His Quills-The
Food w hich 1t Likes and the Pc
culiar Cry Which 1t Ctters.

States and Canada is a sluggish,
\ stoutly-built animal about two
feet in length when full grown.
The spines are almost of the thickness CT
4. goose quill in the middle, supported q.
The base by a slender pedicle aud ter
ninating in very sharp points, situated
.ongitudinally and winged alternately
with black and white. The rings are al
| inch or more broad. Their usual pos
ton is lying nearly fiat oa the body,
with the points directed backward.
When the animal is excited they are
raised By the action of the subcu.aneods
muscles almost at right angles with the
body, and then they present a very re-
pelling appearance. The animal has no
power whatever of detaching these quilts
from its body. The short tail is also
thickly planted with these quilts, which
are cut off, as it were, in the middle,
and make a loud rustling noise when the
animal a~gitates that member, since the
hollow spines are open at the end.
The porcupine lives In a burrow, and
has much of the habit of a rabbit; il is
a nocturnal animal and sleeps most of
the daytime, coming forth at nightfall
to seek its food, consisting of roots,
fruits, tender leaves and buds. 1t never
fails to appreciate a settlers garden, aud
has made many of our pioneers wrathy,
as it is fond of cabbages and other veg
etables. They have a low granting call,
and this suggestion of the hog has
caused the French to call them pore
Epic," which we have adopted as porcu-
pine, the Romans "Hystrix," the Ger
mans "Porcopick," ''Stachelschwein"
and "Dornschwein," and ''Istrice" of the
Italians.
The term of "fretful" which has been
given to this animal is not entirely due to
the matter of temper, because the creature
is rather dull and sluggish at the best;
it will, however, when stirred up Or
when in the presence of danger raise its
spines, stamp its feet on the ground and
swell until 1t looks quite large-as it
will act in this manner on the occasion
of any disturbance it gives rise to that
notion of Tuning and fretting as peculiar
TO it.
The ~porcupine has furnished the
aborigines of America with their chief
reliance for tasteful and lively adorn-
ment of their clothes, robes and
weapons. The quilts being split,
lattened out and then dyed red, yellow
and blue, are worked into all sorts Of
borders and patterns, which, wearing
we'll and keeping the colors bright, were
the most conspicuous features Of the
Indians costume and fittings that struck
the white mans eye when he first saw
his red brother. Its flesh, too, was
eaten also, the chase of it neither difficult
tempted to feast on roast %porcupine he
declared it was not appetizing; that it
resembled poor, fabby pork and was, if
anything, repelling.
Always keeping within reach Of the
shelter of a forest, the porcusine, when
hunted by man, is usually found in the
trees; it makes a broad and we'll defined
trail in the snow by its habit Q1aragging
its tail, but its haunts are most readily
discovered by its fashion of snawing the
bark of pine and other trees, so as Il
get at the inner layers. When a hunter
meets with fresh signs Of this work he
is sure of soon finding his game. for it
will never be more than a few hundre |
yards away at the most. When approache.
they will be found on the branches,
swelling and tuning and making {;
queer kind of crying noise like a child.
The hunter either Climbs the tree anG
kills the animal with a club, striking il
on the nose, or cuts down the tree anG
dispatches it likewise when it falls tc
the earth.
No dog fails to attack the porcupine
if it has never run across one before, but
with that one experience the dog lets it
severely alone afterward. The Indian
dogs, however. were always urged to run
them down, and if unfortunate enough
to get their muzzles filled with the spine
tips the squaws carefully extracted them.
II they did not then the broken point
of the quilts, which are very sharp, have
the property of working rapidly into the
skin and below until they reach the vita
organs, or else of causing such painful
suppnrating wounds that the dog vii.
die of blood poisoning.
Either In a burrow or among anc
under the shelter or the roots of an ole
tree the porcupine makes its nest. Il
pairs In the latter part of September and
brings forth its young, two little ones,
in April or May. At this time of tn,
year, when busy rearing its young, it il
not so strictly nocturnal, aud is otter
attacked by diurnal beasts and birds O
prey.
In the Adirondack mountains the Dor
cupine IS particularly abundant now ano
reported as really on the increase as t.
numbers. 1t is known to spend mos,
OF its time high in the trees, although
It's den is concealed in some ledge O.
rocks or sandy burrow. When it ha
selected a tree to its liking it often neve
leaves that tree day or night for a me-
ment even until the foliage has beet
completely stripped OFF. All observer,
express their surprise that 50 large AZ.
clumsy g beast can climb out Jar enou,i
on the branches SO as 10 reach the ter.