THE MUNGOOSE 97 



wasp's nest, a blood-sucker lizard, and a number of 

 insects — quite a recherche little repast ! 



In Lahore I, or rather my wife, made the discovery 

 that the mungoose is very fond of bird-seed. A certain 

 individual contrived to spend the greater part of the 

 day in our bungalow. He was probably attracted 

 in the first instance by the amadavats. Finding that 

 these were secure in their strongly-made cage, he 

 turned his attention to their seed, and found that it was 

 good. When he had devoured all that had fallen to the 

 ground he would endeavour by means of his claws to 

 extract seed from within the cage. This used to alarm 

 the birds terribly ; one night their flutterings woke me 

 up. It takes an amadavat a long time to learn that 

 it is safe in its cage. It is not until after months of 

 captivity that it will sit on the floor of its house and 

 gaze placidly at the hungry shikra which has alighted 

 on the top. For this reason we did not encourage that 

 mungoose. I may say that we distinctly discouraged 

 it by throwing things at it, or chasing it out of the 

 bungalow whenever we saw it. But it soon became 

 so bold that, unless we ran out of the bungalow after 

 it, it used to remain irl hiding in the verandah, and, 

 a few seconds after all was quiet, its little nose would 

 appear at the doorway. 



The impudence of the Indian house-crow is great, 

 that of the sparrow is colossal, that of the striped 

 squirrel staggering, but the impudence of all these is 

 surpassed by that of the mungoose. Small wonder, 

 then, that it makes an excellent pet. McMaster kept 

 one that died of grief when separated from him. But, 



