76 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



a low and rather deep growl. Normally, their cry is 

 a series of low-pitched coughs. 



The nursery of young civets is an old ant-bear or 

 other hole in the ground. 



GENETS. These animals are spread more or less all 

 over Africa. They are smaller animals than civets, but 

 possess the same elongated heads and short legs. The 

 bodies are slender and weasel-like in form. The claws 

 have a certain retractile power, especially in those species 

 which spend much of their time in trees ; but they are 

 never so fully retractile as the claws of the cats. 



In the Transvaal Game Reserve there exist two very 

 well-defined species, distinct both in appearance and habit. 



(i) The Rusty-Spotted Genet. The general colour 

 of this species is greyish white. The stripe along 

 the centre of the back and the rather large spots on the 

 body are uniform red, the latter with a dark outer ring. 

 Weight, about five pounds. Total length, about forty 

 inches. 



This genet frequents the neighbourhood of permanent 

 water, and, though it climbs trees, is apparently to a 

 large extent a ground animal. It is solitary by nature, 

 and usually has its day lair in holes in the ground, reeds, 

 long grass, and the thick undergrowth of river banks and 

 ravines. 



Its prey consists of rats, mice, locusts, beetles, and 

 birds, especially those of the latter which roost on the 

 ground, or in bushes by the waterside. 



The skins of rusty-spotted genets used to be in great 

 demand among the natives of south-east Africa for 

 purposes of clothing and adornment, and are still con- 

 siderably prized. Though widely distributed in the 

 eastern Transvaal, this species is not nearly so numerous 

 as the following one. 



