FERRET-BADGERS— SAND-BADGER— OTTERS 173 



corners of the mouth ; the ears are white on the edges and inner surface. The 



panda, as a rule, is found in pairs or small families in the forest, living in the 



hollows of trees, and probably also among rocks, but spending much of its time on 



the ground, where it feeds. Its food seems to consist of grass, roots, fruits, and 



bamboo-shoots, and also eggs, and insects and their larvae. On the ground its 



movements are very slow and awkward, but it can hold fruit and other objects 



between the fore-paws. Its senses of hearing, sight, and smell do not appear to 



be very well developed, and as its movements are slow and it is not shy, the panda 



is easily caught. It sleeps curled up like a dog, with the head covered by the tail, 



or hidden between the chest and fore-paws. It is also known to sleep on its legs, 



in the manner often seen among the American raccoons, in accordance with its 



habit of reposing on the branches of trees. It does not seem to be exclusively 



nocturnal in its habits, although sleeping a great deal during the day ; captive 



specimens being most lively in the mornings and evenings. Its usual cry is a short 



feeble chirping like that of a bird, but when angry it rears itself in bear-fashion 



on its hind-legs, as if to seize the intruder, and snorts or hisses. The male when 



excited emits a strong smell of musk. A local race of the species inhabits 



Sze-chuan. 



Very characteristic of the Malay province are the so-called 

 Ferret-Badgers. . . 



ferret-badgers, of which four species are known, two of these being 



Chinese and the others more distinctly Malayan. The Burmese species (Helictis 



personata) is a small mammal with a long body, head, and nose, living in trees 



and feeding on fruits, small mammals, and birds. It is mainly confined to Manipur 



and lower Burma. The limbs are short, strong, and somewhat compressed, the 



pads of the soles being naked, and the claws of the fore-feet double as long as 



those of the hind-feet. The upper-parts are grey. The brown ferret-badger 



(H. orientaiis), in which the upper-parts are brown, ranges from Nepal to Java. 



Like the Burmese species, it is about 16 inches long, with a tail of 9 inches. In 



habits these animals appear to be nocturnal, and they live chiefly in woods. 



The sand-badgers, of which there are two species, are more 

 Sand-Badger. . ° . . 



exclusively Malayan. They have stout bodies and limbs, rather short 



tails, long mobile muzzles, naked towards the tip and terminating in a flat disc 



like the snout of a pig, very short rounded ears, small eyes, slightly-curved blunt 



claws, and long coarse hair, with a woolly under-fur. The common sand-badger 



(Arctonyx collaris), which occurs in Nepal, Sikhim, Assam, Sylhet, Cachar, Arakan, 



Pegu, and Tenasserim, is more or less dirty grey in colour above, with a peculiar 



mark on the white head, the under-parts and legs being darker. In length it 



measures about 30 inches, the tail being about 11 inches. Nocturnal in its 



habits, it lives in rocky undulating country, and in thickets among hills, hiding 



in the clefts of the rock, or in holes excavated by its powerful claws. The 



second species, A. taxoides, occurs in Assam, Arakan, and probably southern China. 



The otters of the Malay countries are to a great extent closely allied 



to those of India. The common Indian species, for instance, is met with 



on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, although it is not definitely known how 



far east and south its range extends. The same is the case with the smooth Indian 



otter (Lutra ellioti), which also inhabits Burma and the Malay Peninsula. A third 



