24.5 



ground, but the heavy rains often inundate their earths, destroy 

 their stores, and force them to seek a new habitation." 



Doctor Jerdon says, he found many burrows of this rat in all 

 localities, but especially in pasture and meadow land on the Neil- 

 gherries and elsewhere, not unfrequently covering a space nearly 

 15 to 20 yards in diameter, and covered with huge mounds of the 

 earth thrown out, forming unsightly heaps in a grassy compound, 

 or on a hill side. 



No. 47, Page 66 Mhizomys. 

 JBamboo Rats. 



As these extraordinary and exceedingly ugly animals are almost 

 unknown to Indian sportsmen, I extract Jerdon's description of 

 the family : 



" Incisors very large, long, somewhat triangular, sharp, molars 

 ^?> rooted, subcylindric, the crown with somewhat parallel cross 

 ridges ; upper molars with a lobe internally ; head large ; body 

 massive ; eyes small ; ears naked, conspicuous ; feet short, strong ; 

 tail short, thick, naked. Chiefly from the Indo-Chinese region 

 and Malayana. One species extends into our north-eastern limits." 



No. 48, Page 67. Hystrix Leucura. 

 Indian Porcupine. 



Jerdon gives the following description of this animal. 



" Muzzle clad with short stiff bristly hairs, and a few white spines 

 on the face ; spines on the throat short, grooved, some with white 

 points forming a demi-collar ; crest full, long, chiefly of black 

 bristles, a few of them only with long white points ; the larger 

 quills on the back black ; many annulated with white at base and 

 middle, and some with white points ; the long thin quills mostly 

 white at tip ; the quills on the loins mostly all white, the peduncu- 

 lated quills of the tail yellowish-white ; some of the quills of the 

 sides and lumbar regions flat and striated ; whiskers long, black, a 

 few tipped white. 



Length of one, head and body 32 inches ; tail 7. 



This porcupine is found over a great part of India, from the 



