THE MUNGOOSE 



waterside retreats, being content with a diet of 

 frogs, crabs, fish, water snakes, aquatic insects, and 

 the eggs and young of aquatic birds. 



In Natal, Zululand, and the Eastern Transvaal 

 there is an animal which attains the bulk of an adult 

 rabbit, known as the Cane Rat (Tbryonomys), which 

 haunts the reedy banks of rivers, ponds, and 

 marshes, as well as the neighbouring lands. The 

 Water Mungoose is an inveterate enemy of these 

 Cane Rats, for their flesh is a welcome addition to 

 its diet. This Cane Rat is a rodent or gnawing 

 animal, and is exceedingly destructive to sugar- 

 cane, and the crops of the farmer, especially the 

 mealies, the stalks of which it gnaws in order to 

 feast upon the unripe milky grain. Therefore, the 

 Water Mungoose, by preying upon this animal, 

 renders man a considerable service. When the 

 various creatures on which it preys, near its haunts 

 on the margins of marshes, ponds, and water- 

 courses, are insufficient for its needs, as is often 

 the case, the Water Mungoose forages around in 

 the neighbourhood and levies a heavy toll on rats, 

 mice, snakes, and noxious insects. Should locusts 

 be available, it devours them with avidity. If this 

 mungoose lives in proximity to man, however, and 

 its natural supplies of food should be insufficient, 

 it causes him much soreness of heart and bitterness 

 of feeling, by its attacks on his poultry, which are 

 carried out under cover of darkness. A farmer at 

 whose homestead I often stayed in Natal had 



