THE CIVET FAMILY- DOG-FOOTED CIVETS. 



147 



sniffs and looks around; but as the pursuers approach 

 nearer and nearer, he attempts at last to run over 

 some place which does not afford absolute shelter. 

 This he does noiselessly and gently, so as not to be- 

 tray himself by quick movements. It is essential to 

 shoot at a short distance and with very large shot in 



THE MUNGO. Among the Mungooses the Mungo, which inhabits India. Ceylon and Afghanistan, is 



especially distinguished because of the skill he exhibits in destroying poisonous Snakes. His long body covered 

 with a coat of almost uniform gray, with a tapering tail nearly as long as the body, are shown by the picture of the 

 animal in the foreground. {Herpestes mungo.) 



order to kill him, for the animal has a wonderful 

 tenacity of life and if he be only wounded he is sure 

 to escape. 



French naturalists say that captive Ichneumons are 

 easily domesticated, know their owner's voice and 

 will follow him about like Dogs. But they are very 

 restless creatures and 

 cause annoyance by the 

 persistence with which 

 they drag portable arti- 

 cles all over the house 

 and upset everything. In 

 one respect they are use- 

 ful. A house that harbors 

 an Ichneumon is secure 

 from Rats and Mice, for 

 he pursues these rodents 

 with indefatigable zeal. 

 When he has caught one, 

 he runs with it into a dark 

 corner and expresses his 

 ability to take care of it 

 himself by grunts and 

 grumbling sounds. 



The Mungo Mungooses 

 and resemble each 



Its Habits. otr , er in their 

 shape and mostly also in 

 their behavior. The de- 

 scription of the Ichneu- 

 mon might, therefore, 

 serve our purpose, if there 



were not a few others deserving of mention. The 

 species representing Pharaoh's Rat in India is the 

 Mungo (Herpestes mungo). It is much smaller than 

 the Ichneumon, its body being from sixteen to twenty 

 inches long, and its tail nearly the same length. Its 

 long, coarse hair is gray, with a white band close 

 to the tip of each hair. 



It ranges to the East as far as Assam, and west- 

 ward to Afghanistan and Beloochistan, and on the 

 island of Ceylon. 



The Mungo likes hedgerows, groves, plantations, 

 rocky forests grown with underbrush, and frequently 

 visits human dwellings, causing great depredations 



in the Chicken-roosts. His 

 family consists of three or 

 four young ones, born in 

 burrows. He seems to be 

 fond of sweet fruit, but pre- 

 fers an animal diet. He 

 runs from rock to rock, and 

 from cavern to cavern, and 

 searches his hunting 

 ground so thoroughly that 

 hardly anything edible can 

 be overlooked. Sometimes 

 he hides himself in a small 

 hole, and when he makes 

 his appearance, he is sure 

 to bring with him a Mouse, 

 a Rat, a Lizard or a Snake 

 which he has caught in his 

 own hiding-place. 



The Mungo The Mungo 

 as a Snake is honored 

 Exterminator. anc j cele- 

 brated for his fights with 

 poisonous Snakes. It is his 

 agility which gains him the 

 victory in such encounters. 

 The natives believe that when he has been bitten by 

 a Snake he digs up a plant or very bitter rdot, known 

 as Manguswail, eats it, and instantly recovers, so 

 that he is able to resume his fight with the Snake. 

 Even exact observers assure us that there is some 

 foundation to this story, inasmuch as the Mungo, 



THE BANDED MUNGOOS. This African species of the Mungooses is one of the prettiest as well as one 



of the smallest of the group, and is distinguished from the others also by the stripes or bands from which it derives 

 its name. It is often domesticated in Africa and becomes as much attached to tiie house as the domestic Cat. 

 (Herpestes fasctatus.) 



when bitten and exhausted, runs away, looks for 

 some plants with which he rehabilitates himself, and 

 then returns ready for the fray. Blanford calls the 

 story about the antidote a fable. If there was any 

 truth in it, it would be difficult to understand why 

 other Snake-hunters, such as the Secretary-bird and 

 some Eagles, should be left defenseless and the 



