208 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



with a tree, this is not of much use to any one coming after. In spite 

 of the damage thus done to forests, however, for the Porcupine is 

 active and feeds all through the terrible northern winter it is pro- 

 tected by law in some districts, as being the only creature suitable for 

 food that a lost traveller in extremities could capture without a gun ; 

 in fact, a species of emergency-game. Away from its native country, 

 the Canadian Porcupine is very little known, but a fair number have 

 been brought to England of late years. 



THE COUENDOU 



(Synetheres prehensilis) 



THIS Brazilian animal may be taken as a type of the prehensile-tailed 

 Porcupines of the hot parts of America. It is about the size of a Cat, 

 with a curious snub nose and a long prehensile tail, and the feet very well 

 adapted for grasping boughs, there being a fleshy pad opposite the toes 

 on the hinder pair. The spines are very different from those of other 

 Porcupines, being short all over the body, and uniformly distributed over 

 head, back, and sides, intermixed with a coat of short fur. 



The Couendou is a sluggish, harmless creature, spending most of its 

 time in the trees on whose leaves and bark it feeds, and sleeping in the 

 forks of the branches. This species has often been exhibited in the 

 London Zoological Gardens, as have other species, for the group includes 

 several kinds. Some of these have the fur so long that the short spines 

 are concealed, such as the Mexican Tree-Porcupine (S. nova hispanice) 

 which approaches the southern territory of the big northern animal last 

 mentioned. 



