NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



closed, and a fearful struggle took place. When 

 the other terriers had almost reached the site of 

 the battle the mungoose succeeded in gripping the 

 terrier by the throat, and the two sank from sight. 

 In about a minute's time they reappeared some 

 yards further downstream, but almost instantly 

 vanished. Nothing more was seen of them that 

 day. Visiting the river late the following after- 

 noon, the bodies of both combatants were seen 

 floating near the bank. The grip of the mungoose 

 had not relaxed. In death its jaws were rigid, and 

 its canine teeth buried deep in the throat of the 

 dog. This mungoose proved to be an old male. 



I have frequently kept these Water Mungooses 

 in captivity, but unless caught very young they 

 are apt to be suspicious, and snap at the fingers 

 when attempts are made to handle them, even 

 after being a considerable time in captivity. If 

 taken into captivity when small, all species of South 

 African mungooses may be rendered almost, if 

 not quite, as tame as domestic cats. They never, 

 however, lose their natural suspicious, secretive, 

 nervous nature, and the sudden appearance of a 

 stranger or some domestic animal with which 

 they are not familiar, or any sudden unusual noise, 

 will send a tame mungoose into a frenzy of fear, 

 and it will steal swiftly off with body elongated, 

 and crouching low, to the darkest and quietest 

 retreat, and lie hidden for hours. 



A Water Mungoose which I had recently cap- 

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