XXIII 



EARTH-HOGS, PORCUPINES, WILD HOGS, AND SMALLER 



MAMMALS 



THE traveller never sees two of the strangest in- 

 habitants of the steppe, the earth-hog {Orycteropiis 

 wertheri) and the porcupine {Hystrix Africce-Australis), 

 unless he takes the trouble to dig for them, or is favored 

 by good-fortune. 



Mr. Jackson, who can speak with authority on the 

 African fauna, said laconically, when discussing with 

 me the porcupine, "Never seen," and yet he had spent 

 ten years in East Africa studying the Hfe of the wild 

 animals. 



The explanation is a simple one. The habits of the 

 porcupine are absolutely nocturnal. It spends the day 

 in caves in the earth, from which it only issues at night, 

 and into which it retreats before dawn. I found plenty 

 of quills, but never saw the animal itself at large. A 

 few specimens I secured from natives, who had dug 

 them out of their burrows. 



During the rainy season the high and extraordinari- 

 ly large termite-hills are visited at night by a strange 



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