ART. 17 EAST AFEICAN VERTEBRATES LOVERIDGE 13 



thieving habits of the Wagogo, who appreciate wire traps to such an 

 extent that they stole more than a dozen of them. It seems probable 

 that our trappers were watched from afar as an attempt was made 

 to conceal them. Petty thieving should be taken into consideration 

 by anyone contemplating collecting or residing in the Dodoma district. 



♦PEDETES CAFER DENTATUS MUler 

 SPRINGHAAS 



Native names. — Kesi (Chigogo); Kupa (Kiswahili); Sembe (Ki- 

 kimba). 



Occurs close to Dodoma station; one was brought in from Kifu- 

 kulo, eight hours away; another was trapped at Mukwese; and yet 

 another came from Kondoa Irangi. There is no reason why this 

 animal should not do well in captivity under favorable conditions. 

 The two we have now have been fed for the past couple of months 

 on maize, "mahoga" (native potatoes), "mahikwi" (pumpkin), and 

 groundnuts. They will take the maize cobs from one's hand and^ 

 holding them in their short, front paws, sit up at once to eat them. 

 By day they sleep all huddled in a heap, their heads concealed. They 

 wake up late at night and hop on their hind legs about the room, 

 which they shared with a dozen porcupines. They should not be con- 

 fined in a small cage, as they will jump against the roof until they 

 wear all the fur, skin, and flesh from the top of their heads. The 

 cage must be metal lined, as their powerful front teeth make short 

 work of any wood; ordinary wire netting soon succumbs to these 

 same teeth. After the foregoing was written, and three days before 

 they would have been removed, one of these hares was killed by a 

 porcupine as related below. 



HYSTRIX GALEATA Thomas 

 PORCUPINE 



Native names. — Nungu (Chigogo); Nungu (Kiswahili). 



Porcupines w^ere brought in from near Dodoma, Kondoa Irangi, 

 and Shinyanga. At Mukwese, a bell-like note was heard nightly in 

 the plantations after 10 o'clock; I mistook it at first for the cry of a 

 hunting dog, but the local natives declared that porcupines were 

 responsible. 



They were fed on precisely the same food as the jumping hares, 

 while young porcupines, much larger than a domestic cat, showed 

 great fondness for milk. One little beast, who used his teeth offen- 

 sively on the hand that put milk into his cage, seized the bowl in his 

 teeth and would run backward with it, and usually upset it. To see 

 a small porcupine in a rage is an amusing sight; to the accompaniment 

 of an explosive noise he stamps his feet, shakes and erects his quills, 

 and sets those in his tail rattling, making himself altogether unpleasant 



