NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



thickets. A favourite lair is in the midst of a dense 

 thorny mass of scrub. This mungoose is easily 

 hunted out of its lair by terrier dogs and killed. 

 When attacked and overtaken by. dogs it seeks to 

 intimidate them by snapping and giving vent to 

 a hissing, spitting sort of growl. It offers a very 

 feeble resistance, and can easily be killed by an 

 experienced fox terrier. 



I have frequently seen these mungooses, either 

 singly or in pairs. They usually haunt the bush- 

 veld, rocky shrub-covered hillsides, and margins 

 of forests. They were, at one time, common in a 

 dense but small native forest known as the Town 

 Bush, near Pietermaritzburg, from the cover of 

 which they issued forth on moonlight nights or at 

 dawn, and levied a heavy toll on the poultry of the 

 residents of the Town Bush Valley. v 



The hair on the back of this species of mungoose 

 is rather long, and when alarmed the animal erects 

 it, which gives it the appearance of being double 

 its actual size. Many species of animals, including 

 our domestic cat, have the power of erecting the 

 fur of their backs and tails for the purpose of in- 

 timidating enemies, by appearing to be more for- 

 midable than they in reality are. The fur of the 

 Grey Mungoose is short on the head, but gradually 

 gets longer towards the tail, where it is about four 

 inches in length. The colour at a first glance is 

 grey, but on close inspection it will be noticed that 

 each hair is narrowly ringed black and white, which 



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