THE VLEY OTOMYS OR VLEY MUIS 



they, too, make their home there, feeding whenever 

 so inchned on the Vley Otomys and its family. 



When the young are able to leave the nest they 

 often troop after the mother in a crov^d and hang 

 on to her long fur v^ith teeth and clav^s, or cling 

 to her teats. Lying in the midst of a dense shrub, 

 watching an open space in front of me in the heart 

 of the *' Dene," I was astonished to see a Vley 

 Otomys, the size of a large barn rat, emerge from 

 one of its beaten tracks in the brushwood. It was 

 a mother Otomys and her brood. The youngsters 

 were clinging to her back and sides with toes and 

 teeth. She looked a grotesque object with her 

 seven children clinging like ticks all over her. 

 When she stopped walking the youngsters let go 

 their hold and competed with one another for a 

 drink of milk. Presently she grew tired of their 

 attentions, and, pretending to be angry, she sought 

 to drive them off. Losing patience at last, she 

 began punishing them by inflicting light nips, 

 which at last had the effect of causing them to 

 retire along the burrow from whence they came. 

 The mother then trotted off in search of a meal. 



These Vley Otomys breed at an exceedingly rapid 

 rate, and, in consequence, Nature has provided a 

 large number of enemies. 



They are preyed upon by the Mungoose, 

 Muishond, Genet, Serval, Wild Cat, Jackal, Fox, 

 and Honey Ratel. Hawks levy a heavy toll by day, 

 and Owls by night. The Secretary Bird, too, is a 



VOL. IV 97 7 ' 



