THE OTHER BEASTS 



359 



times do not return home before sunrise. They will 

 actively defend themselves, charging at their foes, and at 

 the same time erecting their spines, so that dogs are often 

 very severely injured, or even killed by them. There 

 are some eight different species, and there are also four 



FIG. 95. 



THE TRI-COLOURED TREE-PORCUPINE. 



species of brush-tailed porcupines, each having a long 

 tail with a tuft of spines towards its tip. 



In America, from Canada to Southern Brazil, we also 

 meet with porcupines of a different kind. In Brazil 

 there are true porcupines with a long prehensile tail in 

 harmony with their arboreal habits. 



The Andes of Peru and Chili possess a rodent which 

 may be said, as far as its exterior is concerned, to be the 



