NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



Away from the habitations of man the ratel is a 

 useful animal in maintaining the balance of Nature. 

 Armies of rats, mice, noxious insects, and venomous 

 snakes fall a prey to it. However, in the vicinity 

 of man the Honey Ratel is not to be trusted, for 

 it often develops an undue fondness for poultry, 

 ostrich chicks, kids, and lambs, as well as domestic 

 hives of bees. It is only, as a rule, when driven to 

 desperation by hunger that a ratel ventures near 

 its most dreaded enemy — man. I was living for 

 some time at the farm of a friend, and although 

 a pair of ratels had been living in a neighbouring 

 kloof for several years, they had never been guilty 

 of interference with any of his stock. The country 

 was a bushy one, and the ratels found an abundance 

 of food without having to resort to the dangerous 

 expedient of venturing out within the sphere of 

 influence of the farmer's dogs and gun. We knew 

 the lair of these ratels, which was in a hole under 

 an overhanging boulder, amongst the tangled bush 

 and creepers at the foot of a krantz, but my friend 

 would not allow them to be molested, for the reason 

 that they were useful agents in destroying rats, 

 mice, snakes, locusts, and other pests. Time 

 enough, said he, to kill them when they began to 

 do him injury. 



There is a little bird known as the Honey Guide 

 in South Africa, which has obtained its name from 

 its habit of guiding people to the hives of wild bees. 

 Screaming, chattering, and fluttering its wings, it 



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