ANIMALS OF THE I'OTCHEFSTROOM DISTRICT 9.11 



miiiated by the pot luinter. The hyena, proper, so far as 

 I know has not been seen recently below the bushveld 

 further north; nor have I come across a fox, but about 

 1908 I Avas shown the skin of a good sized lynx that 

 had been killed a few days previously near the Mooi 

 River, a few miles above Potchefstroom. This species, as 

 well as the leopard, liave probably disappeared from the 

 district by now, though odd ones may possibly still elude 

 extinction in the wooded hills along the Vaal or a few 

 similar spots. 



Not so long ago, I helped to kill a civet cat whilst driv- 

 ing one evening between a belt of wattles on the Govern- 

 ment Experimental Farm and a holding on the Mooibank 

 iJ^ettlement where a number of poultry was raised. The 

 proprietor of the latter I noticed to be in pursuit of some 

 quarry with his terriers, and almost directly afterwards 

 the hunt crossed the road in front of my cart, being 

 speedily joined by myself and a small fox terrier T had 

 with me. The dogs drove the cat through the wattles 

 into a patch of mealies beyond, and then back again, w^hen 

 it ran up one of the wattles, from which we dislodged 

 it with stones, when, falling amongst the pack, it was 

 quickly dispatched. It was the size of a large domestic 

 cat, with somewhat similar shaped head, and in colour 

 blotched with patches of deep russet and dark brown; 

 but its most conspicuous feature was the long black 

 and white ringed tail. As I never saw or heard of such 

 an animal before, either here or in surrounding districts, 

 where this one came from was quite a mystery (x). T 

 have seen skins of the handsome spotted '' tiger cat " 

 and a commoner brown species killed in the neighbour- 

 hood several years back, but heard of none recently. I 

 also some years ago saAV the skin of the small scaly 



(x) This animal is probably one of the genets (Genetta) 

 of which two species most likely occur at Potchef- 

 stroom. — Ed. 



