NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



behind us. Peering into a nesting-box we were 

 greeted with a succession of fierce hisses, and then 

 an evil- smelling musky odour permeated the air. 

 We at once recognised this as the fluid excreted by 

 the genet. When this animal is brought to bay 

 it excretes a viscid yellow fluid which is manufac- 

 tured by a pair of glands under, and at the root of, 

 the tail. This fluid is a negative weapon of defence, 

 for the odour is so nauseating that most animals go 

 off in disgust and leave the genet in peace. 



Kicking the nesting box at the back, a pair oi 

 genets crept swiftly out and dashed for a small 

 hole in the wall, through which they made frantic 

 endavours to pass. One managed to get its body 

 jammed half way through, but could proceed no 

 further, and my friend, stepping quickly forward, 

 killed the animal, and presently did likewise with the 

 other. It seems the hole through which the genets 

 obtained entry into the fowl-house was just about 

 sufficiently large to admit of their bodies, containing 

 empty stomachs, to glide through ; but after dining 

 not wisely but too well, their stomachs were too 

 distended to allow of them again passing through 

 the hole ; and so, finding themselves trapped, they 

 sought out the darkest corner to await a reduction 

 of their girth. 



When chased from its lair by dogs and brought 

 to bay, the genet seeks to intimidate its foes by 

 hissing, erecting its fur, and discharging its vile- 

 smelling secretion. When attempts are made to 



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