190 THE STORY OF THE MUNGOOSE. 



and looking, in their quaint and pretty favorite attitude, like tiny dogs beg- 

 ging. As you approach they look at you fearlessly and impudently, allow- 

 ing you to come quite close; then, when their confiding 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 disappeared by magic. 



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

 applied tO' the thick-tailed mungoose, it is the true meerkat alone which 

 makes such a charming pet. The quaint, old-fashioned Httle fellow 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 of black bordering his large dark eye serves to enhance the size 

 and brilliancy of the orbs. 



The most typical representative of the mungoose family is the Egyptian 

 mungoose or ichneumon, inhabiting Africa, north of the Sahara Desert, 

 Palestine, Asia Minor, and the southern portions of Spain. It was one of 

 the sacred animals of the ancient Egyptians, and is often depicted on their 

 frescoes. It feeds largely upon the eggs of crocodiles, although this habit 

 has not been recorded of any of the Indian species. It was, and I believe 

 still is, domesticated in Egypt; and has the same antipathy to snakes alluded 

 to under the head of the common Indian species. The Egyptian mungoose 

 is a large species; the length of the head and body being about twenty 

 inches. 



