148 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



:kii\% - ' ' from his attack. He fol- 



UsT;' &'/ /' ■ J>'' i* - lowed his master to Eng- 



land and was the favorite 

 of all who knew him. He 

 knew a great number of 

 tricks: jumping, turning 

 somersaults, sitting on 

 chairs with a cap on, play- 

 ing soldier, etc. Pips died 

 of grief. During a tempo- 

 rary absence of his master 

 he refused all nourishment 

 and starved to death. 



Besides the Ichneumon 

 there is only one Europe- 

 an Mungoos that is worth 

 mentioning, the Meloncillo 

 ( Herpestes ividdringtonii). 

 This animal was well 

 known to Spanish sports- 

 men long before it fell into 

 the hands of a naturalist. 

 Its chase was profitable, for 

 the hair of its tail is long 

 and especially adapted for 

 making painters' brushes, 

 and therefore the tail, 

 which brought a high price, was the only part that 

 was used and the remainder of the fur was thrown 



„ ~n'\ ,i,„ I'rva derives its name from the tact that i 

 THE CRAB MUNGOOS. This an^. sometimes cailett ^ i ■■ va]1 Q , Nepaul 



ttS £es b . S ' SEAtW. ^S^ ffl> »^^M bu'sh, tail. The picture shows it with , 



Crab it has captured. (Herpestes urea.) 



adroitness with which he escapes the spring of the 

 Snake, and the cunning he exhibits in his methods 

 of attacking it. His thick, coarse hair, bristling with 

 excitement, and his thick skin render it very diffi- 

 cult for the Snake to bite 

 him, but if he is bitten, ° 

 the Mungo dies from the 

 wound as well as any 

 other animal, although 

 the effects of the poison 

 seem to be slower in his 

 case. 



The Mungo was im- 

 ported into Jamaica dur- 

 ing the 'jo's, and is said 

 to have exterminated so 

 many of the Rats infest- 

 ing the sugar-cane plan- 

 tations on that island 

 that his usefulness is es- 

 timated at several mil- 

 lion marks a year. 



The Mungo The M Un- 

 as a go is the 

 Domestic Pet. member 

 of his family that is best 

 adapted for domestica- 

 tion, for he is a cheerful, 

 rather good-natured ani- 

 mal of cleanly habits. 



Sterndale had a Mun- 

 go, which was his steady 



companion in India for three years. "Pips knew 

 very well when his owner was going to shoot a bird 

 for him; he danced around when he saw the gun 

 adjusted, and hurried to procure the falling prey. 

 He was very clean, and after eating picked his teeth 

 in the funniest way with his claws. He was an m- 



away. , ... , . , 



The Meloncillo lives exactly like the Ichneumon, 



rt of Afr 



THE FOXY MUNGOOS.— -This animal. «. hich Jf fo "!^ jl j "jf Ambles' thrMu"ngoo^gro U p\n'its nature and 

 ^atsS^aSd^th 3 tSjal« dtn^nceTin ^IcTt" caused maly naturaHsts to pface it 

 group by itself. ( Cynictus penieillata.) 



in valleys crossed by rivers, especially in Estrama- 

 dura and Andalusia. It inhabits almost exclusively 

 the reedy woods and plains grown with Esparto and 

 is not found in mountains, as is generally stated Its 

 total length is forty-four inches, of which about 

 twenty inches is taken by the tail. The fur is longer 



