THE BUSHY-TAILED OR ROOI MEERKAT 



courage. It is often hunted with terrier dogs, 

 and if it should happen to take refuge in the de- 

 serted burrow of an Aard Vark or Spring Hare, a 

 trained terrier will go in after it and frequently 

 succeed in dragging it out, not, however, without 

 getting several severe bites about the lips and head. 



However, no dog can follow a meerkat down a 

 burrow excavated by itself, as it is much too small. 

 The only way to secure it in such situations is to 

 laboriously dig it out. They can easily be captured 

 alive by placing cage traps baited with meat near 

 their holes. It has been stated these meerkats are 

 never met with in the bush-veld. On the contrary, 

 I have frequently observed them in bushy country, 

 not in the dense native forests, but in the true 

 bush-veld. Scores of times I have surprised them 

 sunning themselves in the glades, and on the road- 

 ways through the bush. The instant I came into 

 view they bounded off to cover. 



Riding on the outskirts of bushy lands these 

 meerkats may frequently be seen out a hundred 

 yards or so upon the open veld in search of insects, 

 reptiles, small mammals, the eggs and young of 

 ground birds, which constitute their chief diet. 

 On the slightest cause for alarm they make for the 

 scrub with a series of graceful bounds. 



In the neighbourhood of Port Elizabeth the 

 Bushy- tailed Meerkat is common, even in :he dense 

 forests which have been planted by the Govern- 

 ment Forest Department with a view of fixing the 



