WHITE-NOSED RAT 



95 



Tlie commonest of the wild or indigenous species is 

 perhaps the White-nosed Eat (M. concha) which I have 

 located in the neighbourhood of Johannesburg and 

 Modderfontein, and in the Kustenburg and Pretoria 

 districts. I procured it at Modderfontein amongst the 

 mimosa scrub, where it constructed runs and burrows, 



Fig. 28.— White-nosed Rat. 



and in hollow antheaps on the veld not far from scrubby 

 or reedy localities. Here a rounded nest of grass is made 

 and the young brought forth and reared. This species 

 has bred in the Pretoria Zoo, and three would appear to 

 be the usual number of a litter. It feeds upon almost any 

 vegetable matter, and in captivity is fond of sunflower 

 seeds and bread and milk. It is of a dark slaty-brown 

 above and dirty white below, with the tip of the nose and 



