NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



At Perseverance, near Port Elizabeth, Mr. J. 

 Martin, a farmer who incubates large batches of 

 chickens, was in the habit of keeping them during 

 the daytime in camps, or runs enclosed with a low 

 fence of wire netting. One day a pair of mungooses 

 got through the wire and deliberately slaughtered 

 eighty chickens before they were disturbed. 



However, apart from occasional inroads on 

 poultry, the Small Grey Mungoose fulfils a most 

 important mission in the economy of Nature, for 

 of all creatures it is the most persistent in its 

 pursuit of rats, mice, and noxious insects, and for 

 these reasons it should not be molested, except, 

 of course, when it is known to be in the habit of 

 preying on poultry. 



From the sportsman's point of view it is not 

 an altogether desirable animal to have on game 

 preserves where partridges and other game birds 

 are being bred, for it supplements its diet of rats, 

 mice, snakes, and insects by eating the young and 

 eggs of these game birds. Game birds, however, 

 do not usually build their nests near the favourite 

 haunts of this mungoose, and it must be borne in 

 mind that it destroys vast numbers of rats, and not 

 a few snakes, which are themselves great destroyers 

 of the eggs and young of both ground and tree- 

 frequenting birds. Again, it might be argued 

 that game birds are of comparatively little value 

 in the economy of Nature, so far as man is con- 

 cerned. Indeed they are in many instances a 



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