HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



They are, of course, vermin, and at times very destruc- 

 tive to poultry. These and all the succeeding animals, 

 except the real cats, may be roughly described as being 

 of the well-known weasel or pole-cat build that is, with 

 long bodies and tail, short legs, round ears, and sharp snouts. 

 The most common kind I meet with in Matale is Herpestes 

 futvescens, peculiar to Ceylon ; a small animal, not more 

 than 26 to 28 inches in length over all; blacky-brown in 

 colour, minutely speckled dull yellow. I may be wrong 

 in my classification, but it seems to fit Blanford's description 

 in his " Fauna of British India " of H. fulvescens. I once 

 also killed, over my dogs, a specimen of the ruddy mon- 

 goose (H. smithi)^ a much bigger animal than the above, 

 and almost exactly like a small fox in appearance and 

 colour. They run to 40 inches in length over all, and 

 the one I killed must have been nearly that size. They 

 are not common in Matale, though I believe they are 

 very plentiful in other parts of the low country, notably 

 the Kelani Valley. The common Indian mongoose (H. 

 mungo] is more of a low-country animal in Ceylon, and I 

 have not often met with it in Matale, though very common 

 in the low country. It is almost silver grey in colour, its 

 wiry hair looking rather " hedgehoggy " in appearance, and 

 is larger than H. fulvescens but much smaller than the 

 ruddy mongoose. 



Our fourth species is H. vitticottis, and is larger than the 

 ruddy mongoose. It carries a fine bushy tail, and has two 

 black bands from ear to shoulder, whilst its face markings, 

 very like a badger, have given it the name of " Ceylon 

 badger" or "badger-faced mongoose." Its colour is usu- 

 ally greyish dark brown. I have never seen this species in 

 Matale, but I believe they are very common near Newera 

 Eliya (6200 feet elevation), and I have also seen them in 



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