When the farmer's kind dame To the poultry yard came, She said--and the Wren shook with fright-- "Biddy's so fat she'll do For a pie or a stew, And I guess I shall kill her to-night." --_Phoebe Cary._ THE CANADIAN PORCUPINE. It climbs the trees and strips them clean Of leaf, and fruit, and bark; Then, creeping where no life is seen, O'er branches grim and stark, Begins anew, the bark beneath, The endless grind of claws and teeth, Till trees, denuded, naked rise Like spectres painted on the skies. Fretful it may be, as its quills are sharp, But with its teeth it stills the sylvan harp. C. C. M. Formerly plentiful in the northern United States, but now quite rare in this country, although not so scarce in Canada, is the Urson, otherwise called the Canadian Porcupine. It is the tree or climbing species and is distinguished from other members of the family by its slender body and tail of greater or less length. The Urson attains a length of thirty-two inches, seven and one-half of which are included in the tail. A thick set fur, which attains a length of four and one-half inches on the nape of the neck and changes into sharp spines on the under parts of the body and the tip of the tail, clothes the animal. The Canadian Porcupine is a native of the forests of North America, ranging as far south as Virginia and Kentucky and as far west as the Rocky Mountains. "The Urson," says Cartwright, "is an accomplished climber and probably never descends a tree in winter, before it has entirely denuded the upper branches of bark. It is most partial to the tenderest roots or seedling trees. A single Urson may ruin hundreds of them during one winter." Audubon states that he passed through woods, in which all the trees had been stripped by this animal, producing an appearance similar to that induced when a forest has been devastated by fire. Elms, Poplars, and Firs furnish its favorite food, and therefore usually suffer more than other trees from its destructiveness.