NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



ments. This cage she also demolished, and had 

 eaten its inhabitants. Half a dozen other cages 

 had also been smashed and the creatures therein 

 had gone the way of the others. Four baby 

 Chacma Baboons were sitting in the remotest 

 corner of their roomy cage hugging each other and 

 chattering with fear. No wonder, for they had a 

 lucky escape from a terrible fate. The ratel had, 

 during the night, tried every part of the cage. 

 There were traces of her operations on it on all 

 sides. She had even climbed up to the top, a 

 height of ten feet, and had upset some art bowls 

 containing choice growing palms. These were in 

 fragments on the floor. Her mind had evidently 

 been diverted by the sight of nine albino rats in 

 an adjacent cage. This cage was four feet square, 

 with strong glass sides and a series of augur holes 

 round the wooden frame near the bottom ; and the 

 top was covered with strong wire. 



Failing to break the glass or to otherwise demolish 

 the cage, the ratel patiently scraped at one of the 

 augur holes until she had enlarged it sufficiently 

 for a rat to get through The wood was thick and 

 hard, and it must have cost her hours of patient 

 labour. Then, making formidable demonstrations 

 on the opposite side of the cage, she frightened the 

 rats so thoroughly that they endeavoured to escape 

 through the hole she had made. This was exactly 

 what she was intending that they should do. When 

 one of the rats emerged she evidently pounced upon 



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