THE HONEY RATEL 



perfume serves the purpose of a protection against 

 enemies. For instance, should a ratel be attacked 

 and hard pressed it discharges a quantity of this 

 evil-smelling fluid, which nauseates its foe. If a 

 leopard, cheetah, or lion should pounce upon a ratel, 

 thinking to make a meal of it, all the ratel need do 

 is to excrete a little of its special perfume, stored 

 up for such occasions, and its enemy drops it in 

 disgust. 



However, like the Striped Muishond, the ratel 

 in captivity when kindly treated never ejects 

 this fluid, and the animal in consequence is 

 odourless. 



In front of Jeannie's cage is a donation-box 

 bearing an inscription as foUows : "It costs six- 

 pence a day to feed me, and I am told if I am not 

 self-supporting I will not be allowed to live. Please 

 give me a penny, sir." She seems to have some 

 idea what this box is for. When a visitor approaches 

 her cage she croons and makes a variety of coaxing 

 noises which might be termed ratel language. Then 

 stretching out a fore paw she claws the slit in the 

 box, indicating as plainly as possible that she 

 expects the visitor to drop a coin into the box. 

 She has not been trained to do this. Observing 

 visitors drop coins through this slit in the box, 

 and the jingling sound of the money evidently 

 being pleasant to her sense of hearing, she now 

 tries to attract attention to the box. The contents 

 of this box are collected once a week, and during 



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