Game Animals of India, etc. 



ear. The upper portion of the hmbs shows dark 

 barrings externally, but their lower parts are uniformly- 

 blackish brown, or black. 



The range of this civet includes Burma, Assam, the 

 Eastern Himalaya, and Bengal. In Sikhim and Nepal 

 it ascends to a considerable elevation above the sea- 

 level ; and it is for the most part solitary, hiding in 

 thick covert during the day, and wandering in search 

 of food by night. Although unable to climb, it takes 

 readily to the water, and frequently makes its lair in a 

 hole in the ground. All animals that it can kill, as 

 well as eggs, seem acceptable as food to the civet, which 

 not unfrequently does considerable harm to domesti- 

 cated poultry. Since the skin is of little value, the 

 animal offers slight attraction to the sportsman. 



Three smaller species of civet inhabit India and 

 Burma. In addition to these there are, in the Eastern 

 Himalaya and Burma, the graceful and beautifully 

 coloured linsangs {^Linsanga\ while various species of 

 palm-civets, or toddy-cats {Paradoxurus\ as well as 

 mongooses [Herpestes)^ are to be met with all over the 

 country. None of these can, however, be regarded as 

 game animals, even in the widest sense of that term. 



THE BINTURONG 



{^Arctictis binturong) 



Native Names. — Youngs Assamese ; Myouk - kya 

 (monkey-tiger), Burmese ; Untarong^ Malay 



(Plate ix, fig. i) 



Although prehensile tails, by means of which their 

 owners sling themselves to branches, are common 

 among the marsupials of Australia, the ant-eaters, and 

 monkeys of South America, and the opossums of both 

 divisions of the New World, for some unexplained 



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