482 



THE CARNIVORES 



who, in her work entitled Home Life on an Ostrich Farm, states that these animals- 

 form most admirable and amusing little pets, nearly every homestead on the Karru 

 having one or more of these creatures. In their wild state the meerkats live in 

 colonies or warrens, burrowing deep holes in the sandy soil, and " feeding chiefly on 

 succulent bulbs, which they scratch up with the long, curved, black claws on their 

 fore-feet. They are devoted sun-worshipers, and in the early morning, before it is 

 daylight, they emerge from their burrows, and wait in rows till their divinity 

 appears, when they bask joyfully in his beams. They are very numerous on the 

 Karru, and, as you ride or drive along through the veldt, you often come upon little 

 colonies of them sitting up sunning themselves, and looking, in their quaint and 

 pretty favorite attitude, like tiny dogs begging. As you approach they look at you 



THE MEERKAT. 

 (One-fourth natural size.) 



fearlessly and impudently, allowing you to come quite close ; then, when their con- 

 fiding manner has tempted you to get down in the wild hope of catching one of 

 them, suddenly all pop so swiftly into their little holes that they seem to have disap- 

 peared by magic." 



Although in the Cape it appears that the name meerkat is also often applied to 

 the thick-tailed mungoose (Oynictis), it is the true meerkat alone which makes such 

 a charming pet. 'The quaint, old-fashioned little fellow," continues Mrs. Martin, 

 " is as neatly made as a small bird ; his coat, of the softest fur, with markings not 

 unlike those of a tabby cat, is always well kept and spotlessly clean ; his tiny feet, 

 ears, and nose are all most daintily and delicately finished off ; and the broad circle 



