Some East African Pets 



Zanzibar poultry are fearful wildfowl indeed ; I 

 have even seen one carrying off a snake to 

 devour, and was told they frequently kill these 

 reptiles. But Jo showed no desire to attack 

 birds — a curious trait in a mongoose — though 

 she greedily pounced on lizards, and would even 

 tackle a crab, which was apt to prove too much 

 for her, her method of attack being to fling the 

 crustacean on the ground with her forepaws, 

 thinking thereby to break him as she did an 

 egg. I usually brought her down at meal 

 times to be fed, tying her up close to my chair, 

 as she had an inconvenient habit of climbing 

 up chairs and trouser legs when allowed her 

 liberty. With all her eccentricities, she was a 

 most amusing little pet, and had learnt to come 

 at call and follow me about, when she met with 

 an untimely end. When she had been in my 

 possession barely a week, I left Zanzibar for 

 Mombasa, and I was hospitably entertained 

 during the first part of my stay at that port 

 by Mr. F. Pordage, whose pink and green 

 bungalow on English Point was a perfect zoo- 

 logical garden. But, alas ! I had not been there 

 half-an-hour before poor Jo fell a victim to a 

 sudden assault on the part of two fox-terriers, 

 which attacked her as she was tied up on the 

 verandah. I was very much grieved at thus 

 losing her, for one soon becomes attached to 



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