22 Notice of the Habits of a Mangousfe. 



since that time the clog has sometimes used it very roughly 

 without the mangouste resenting it. Should a stranger take 

 hold of it when out of the house it bites and runs off. 



The mangouste is as docile as the mildest of our dogs, if 

 you except the time of feeding, particularly when devouring 

 a bird that has been given to it alive. At this time the change 

 in its manners is as quick as it is remarkable : in one second 

 it loses all the mild and attractive dispositions of the pet ; 

 these vanish, to be replaced by the repulsive ones of the 

 fiercest carnivorous animals, growling, uttering a sharp bark, 

 and even attempting to bite. 



Its favourite food is small birds, and the dexterity shown in 

 climbing into bushes, seems to indicate that in the wild state 

 they may probably constitute a considerable portion of its 

 food. If a mouse, rat, lizard, or frog be given it, before 

 killing it will play with the animal for a quarter of an hour : 

 indeed I do not remember having allowed this to be carried 

 on so long as it might have been disposed ; and to put an end 

 to it, the rescue of the victim has only to be attempted, when 

 its death is instantaneous. With a small bird, however, the 

 treatment is very different, for the mangouste has only to see 

 one, when capture and death will follow in a second. If, 

 however, we except the time of feeding, the harshest usage 

 from those it knows will only make it utter a low, plaintive, 

 and murmuring cry. It cries in the same way when hungry, 

 or when wishing to get out of its cage. 



Its playfulness is very remarkable ; it is more playful than 

 a kitten, with strength and agility superior to that of a cat. 

 It is impossible to describe the numerous positions it twists 

 its body into ; perhaps the most marked of them is that of 

 standing on the hind legs and leaping like a kangaroo. 



As it is mentioned in various books on natural history, 

 that the mangouste can dive, swim, and remain long under 

 water, like the otter, for the purpose of taking fish ; in order 

 to try if this one possessed the same faculty, I put an egg 

 into a large basin of water, and showed it to the mangouste ; 

 immediately the animal dived its body up to the shoulders 

 and took out the egg. A few minnows were then put into a 

 small basin ; it took them with great ease and avidity ; but 

 it could not take them out of a larger basin, the water seem- 

 ing to deprive it of sight, as soon as its head was plunged 

 under the surface ; it preferred to watch till they came to the 

 edge, and pounce on them ; but these attempts proving as 

 abortive as the first it abandoned them altogether. Since 

 that time several birds have been put into a small pond, but 

 the mangouste would not go into the water for them. 



March, 1828. A. J. Adie. 



