16 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 73 



eggs and meat were given them. After a day or two they tired of 

 this and were put back on raw minced meat. None of the things so 

 reUshed by my Mkalama fox tempted them, sweetened cereals or 

 papaw were left untouched. Milk, and bread and milk, they liked 

 in moderation. 



This animal seems fairly common at Saranda, for Mr. Robbie 

 showed me an earth where, one morning, he had seen eight basking 

 and killed five with three cartridges from a 12-bore shotgun. He 

 was under the impression that they were jackals. One evening I met 

 a fox which seemed remarkably bold and curious. Salimu shot it 

 later and I was able to show Mr. Robbie its intestines (the stomach 

 being empty), crammed with termites' heads, as evidence of its harm- 

 less diet and usefulness. It was a male and measured 520. 230. 40. 

 90 mm. and had two large cysts beneath the left foreleg and two 

 smaller ones on the intestine. 



MELLIVORA CAPENSIS Schreber 



CAPE HONEY BADGER 



Native names. — Muhiru (Chigogo); Nygeri (Kiswahili). 



Early in August a two- thirds grown ratel was brought in uninjured; 

 no suitable cage being available, it was put into an ordinary one 

 with its face toward the wall and this cage was weighted above and 

 behind. I visited it several times in the night. Next morning, as 

 I had anticipated, the wire netting was torn to rags. It was transferred 

 to a new cage but ate through a stout post, splintered others, and drop- 

 ping 4 feet to the floor roamed about the room which held over a hun- 

 dred boxes of birds and animals. At daybreak I located it behind some 

 bird cages and shut it in by pushing the cages to right and left of it 

 against the wall. A box trap was then set in the doorway and a 

 barricade of cages built up to form an avenue from the spot where 

 the ratel was to the door; of course, the backs of the cages were 

 turned toward the avenue. By pulling out the cages that had been 

 pushed back to inclose the ratel the avenue was now opened and a 

 few pokes started the animal on the way that ended in the trap. 

 The ratel makes a hoarse rattling sound in its throat, which, together 

 with its snarl, would do credit to a leopard. It was fed on raw meat, 

 dead birds, and mealie meal porridge mixed with black treacle. 



CIVETTICTIS CIVETTA ORIENTALIS (Matschie) 

 EAST AFRICAN CIVET 



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



Taken at Dodoma, Kondoa Irangi, Shinyanga, and Tulo. The 

 Kondoa Irangi specimen was fed on meat, groundnuts, and papaw; 

 it would not touch pumpkin. Its cry, given just after dark and at 



