NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



of fatigue. It did not now recover so quickly 

 -when it lunged forward. The muishond was not 

 slow to notice this, for it boldly darted forward 

 and nipped the snake's neck before it could with- 

 draw and elevate its head. Twice it gripped the 

 snake and sprang aside, but on the third occasion 

 it seized the reptile by the head and held on 

 tenaciously until the skull was crushed to frag- 

 ments, and without pausing it deliberately chewed 

 up the snake's head and swallowed it. It then 

 dined off a portion of the body and, leaving the 

 rest, trotted off into a corner of the cage and, coil- 

 ing up, went off to sleep. 



An interesting account of a fight between a 

 cobra and a muishond is related in the Zambesi 

 Mission Record for July 1912. It is as follows : 



" One moonlight evening last winter, Br. Arnold 

 was walking down one of the paths on the plateau 

 at Dunbrody, when he saw a most curious and 

 interesting sight. On the path just in front of 

 him a deadly battle was being waged between a 

 polecat and a yellow cobra some four feet long. 

 The little skunk, with its tail turned right over 

 its back, was leaping nimbly from side to side, 

 ever looking for an opportunity of biting the snake, 

 and whenever the latter made a dart at it the pole- 

 cat turned swiftly round and bombarded the cobra. 

 Two of the Fathers were called to witness the 

 combat, and for more than half an hour they re- 

 mained there, spectators of a rare and most charming 

 170 



