THE COENDOO, OR BRAZILIAN PORCUPINE. 



473 



manner of using the quills as means of defence. In the Park Collection was an adult Canada 

 Porcupine, in a box with a small rabbit. Each animal kept as far from the other as possible, 

 but in an unlucky moment the rabbit chanced to approach near the Porcupine, when in an 

 instant the tail of the latter was struck against the rabbit, leaving hundreds of the smaller 

 quills studding his face and shoulders. Like the African species, the larger and longer quills 

 are for ornament ; the weapons are the small ones massed just over the rump and base of tail. 

 The motion is so quick it easily escapes notice, hence the uninformed observer is ready to believe 

 that the quills are thrown out. 



This animal was common in .--.- ; ,-•-"" r 



Massachusetts during the first half " ' ; 



of this century. Its range is from 

 Maine to Kentucky, but it is not 

 seen on the sea-board. A Western 

 variety reaches as far as Arizona 

 and New Mexico. It is often seen 

 in the albino state. 



In Southern America, the Por- 

 cupines find a representative in 

 the Coendoo, an animal which is 

 not only remarkable for its array 

 of quills, but also for the prehen- 

 sile power of its long tail. 



As might be presumed, from 

 the prehensile tail and the pecu- 

 liarly armed claws, the Coendoo 

 is of arboreal habits, finding its 

 food among the lofty branches of 

 trees. On the level ground it is 

 slow and awkward, but among the 

 more congenial boughs it climbs 

 with great ease, drawing itself 

 from branch to branch by means 

 of its hooked claws ; but seldom 

 using its tail, except as an aid in 

 descent. The food of this animal 

 consist of leaves, flowers, fruit, 

 bark, and the soft woody substance 

 of young and tender branches, 

 which it slices easily with its chisel-edged incisor teeth. During the summer months the 

 Coendoo becomes extremely fat, and its flesh is then in great request, being both delicate in 

 flavor and tender in character. The young of this animal are born in the month of September 

 or October, and are very few in number. 



The total length of the Coendoo is about three feet six inches, of which the tail occupies 

 one foot six inches. Its nose is thick and blunt, like that of the common Porcupine, and the 

 face is furnished with very long whisker-hairs of a deep black. The numerous spines which 

 cover the body are parti-colored, being black in the centre and white at each extremity. Their 

 length is rather more than two inches on the back, an inch and a half on the fore-legs, and not 

 quite an inch on the hinder limbs. A number of short quills are also set upon the basal half 

 of the tail, the remainder of that organ being furnished with scales, and tapering to its 

 extremity. The color of the scales is black. The entire under surface of the tail is covered 

 with similar scales, among which are interspersed a number of bright chestnut hairs. The 

 abdomen, breast, and inner face of the limbs are clothed with dense, brown, coarse hairs. 

 It is a nocturnal animal ; sleeping by day, and feeding by night. 



COENDOO, OR BRAZILIAN PORCUPINE.— Ctrcolabes urc/tensilis. 



