236 MAMMALS. 



house in which they have been brought up till they are about a year old, 

 when they usually take to the jungles. They are wonderfully active 

 in all their movements. The large Indian civet-cat ( Viverra tihetha) 

 is not uncommon up to at least 5,500 feet; and the spotted tiger-civet 

 (Prionodon pardicolor) is a very beautiful and active but rare creature of 

 the cooler forests about 5 — 6,000 feet ; it is marked with large squarish 

 black spots in longitudinal rows on a fulvous background. There is 

 but one tree-cat (Paradoxtinis grayi)^ and it is not uncommon in the 

 warmer forests. 



The small Indian mungoose {Herpestes auro-punctatus)h occdiSion^iWy 

 found in the lower valleys, but the large crab-eating mungoose 

 {^Herpetics itrva) is commoner and ascends to higher elevations. It is 

 a creature of considerable size, its head and body measuring a foot 

 and-a-half in length and its tail a foot. 



The jackal is not uncommon. Jerdon and Blanford both say 

 there is but one species of wild hog [Cyon dukhunensis) in Sikhim, but 

 the natives are very positive about there being two, and that they differ 

 both in size and habits as well as in colour. The large sort they call 

 the Hindu, and say it goes in pairs onl}^ or in parties of three or four, 

 and is of a brownish colour with a black muzzle ; the other sort, which 

 they call the 31ussalman, is described as being considerably smaller, of 

 a uniform reddish colour, and going in packs of ten or a dozen. They 

 hunt in packs and kill wild pig, deer, goats, &c., and occasionally attack 

 cattle. The Hindu sort is in great request among native cattle doctors, 

 who consider every atom of its body, including the bones, but especially 

 the stomach, an infallible remedy in rinderpest. It is smoke-dried 

 and reduced to powder, and administered either dry or in water. 

 Their faith in it is unbounded, notwithstanding that there does not 

 appear to be a single authenticated instance on record of it ever having 

 effected a cure. The belief in its efficacy may have originated with 

 the idea when the disease first appeared in Sikhim, that the wild dog 

 was in some mysterious manner the cause of it, and the wise men 

 acted on the principle of giving the victim a " hair of the dog that bit 

 him." The Nepalese also declare it to be a sure remedy in dysentery 

 and other diseases mankind is subject to. The natives of the plains 

 as well as of the hills believe in and use it, and there is a tradition 

 that the Cabul traders have offered a hundred rupees for a living or 

 freshly-killed wild dog of the Hindu variety. The Mussulman sort is 

 not generally of so high repute as a medicine, and by some considered 

 worthless. 



The Indian marten [Mustela flavigula) is a common animal of a 

 rather wide range, being found fi'om the lower slopes up to about 

 7,000 feet, usually in pairs, but occasionally in parties of five or six. 

 It feeds on birds, reptiles, and small mammals, and when opportunity 



