278 COMMON BEASTS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



Common mungooses, Herpestes mungo, are sure 

 to be often present in any garden containing patches 

 of long grass, broken ground, or thickets of shrubs 

 affording convenient cover and store of prey in the 

 shape of small birds, reptiles, and insects. The 

 feelings with which mungooses are regarded are apt 

 to be of a somewhat mixed nature ; for, on the one 

 hand, they are welcome and respectable on account 

 of the havoc that they play among snakes, mice, 

 and rats, and, on the other, they are notoriously 

 equally ready to make away with birds and eggs, 

 so that their presence in a garden is not wholly 

 desirable. Were it not on account of the birds, 

 it would be a source of unadulterated joy, as, quite 

 independent of their utility, the study of their 

 habits must be a constant entertainment to any one 

 who has not a constitutional aversion to ferret-like 

 animals. Their ceaseless activity, their astonishing 

 alertness, and their easy, graceful movements are 

 most fascinating, and the sight of one of them in 

 conflict with a Deadly snake is a most memor- 

 able experience in its exhibition of matchless 

 pluck and skilful fence. There was formerly 

 much debate in regard to the question of their 

 apparent immunity from the toxic effects of snake- 

 bite, some observers maintaining that it was the 

 result of wary avoidance of efficient bites, while 

 others regarded it as mainly due to the presence 

 of a constitutional insusceptibility. Now we know 



