274 COMMON BEASTS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



Both the large and the small civet are to be 

 met with in gardens, and the latter species even 

 in very small enclosures in thickly peopled parts of 

 the town. The large civet, Viverra zibetha, ought 

 to be a more attractive animal than it is (Plate 

 XVI.). The brilliant contrasts of black, white, and 

 grey in its coat, and the singular grace of its form 

 and movements are admirable, but the general effect 

 of the colouring is harsh and bizarre, and the long, 

 low, pointed head has a very mean look. Large 

 civets do not, as a rule, frequent the immediate 

 neighbourhood of houses, and it is therefore only 

 in the great and " careless-order'd " gardens of 

 the suburbs that they are likely to be seen. I 

 only twice met with them even there. On the 

 first occasion I was passing a neglected corner in 

 my garden in Alipur, where a mixed growth of 

 pine-apples and long grass formed a dense jungle, 

 when my terrier suddenly became highly excited 

 and plunged into the cover. There she hunted 

 about eagerly, and presently, with a great crashing 

 sound, a large civet leaped out on the farther side 

 of the thicket, and, after pausing for a few seconds 

 to look around, went off up the path "at a great 

 padding pace," and disappeared into the shrubbery. 

 A little later, when we were returning towards 

 the house, the dog entered a tangle of Petrsea 

 and Cereus near the point at which the civet had 

 vanished, and presently began to utter short, sharp 



