4510 ‘ure ZooLtocist—JuLy, 1875. 
The demoiselle (Anthropoides virgo) is a remarkably graceful 
crane: the head and neck are black, with the exception of the 
crest, which is composed of drooping ash-coloured plumes; the 
body slate-coloured; the tail black; iris crimson; in length three 
feet three inches, height three feet six inches. It frequents the 
same localities as the wattled crane, and is often seen in company 
with it. The demoiselle is easily domesticated: we saw a young 
bird which a friend of ours had obtained from a Kafir: it was 
covered with bluish down, which gave it a curious appearance. 
The nests are not often found, owing to the young birds quitting 
them as soon as they are hatched, but the eggs of the three species 
found here are said to be very similar in size and colour. This, 
the commonest of our cranes, is known here as the “ Kafir crane.” 
The blue crane (Anuthropoides paradisea), as its name implies, is 
of a uniform light blue colour, the wings being covered with black 
glossy plumes falliug over them, producing a very elegant effect. 
It seems to be rather a rare bird, and is only to be met with in 
certain districts. We lately saw a pair of these birds in Durban, 
which had been brought down from the uplands for exportation: 
they looked very comfortable in their large airy cage. Some time 
since a sportsman when out shooting, and seeing no better game, 
fired into a flock of cranes, knocking over two or three. He said 
that after having extracted a lot of oil from them by parboiling, he 
had them baked and made an excellent meal off the flesh. 
Civets and Ichneumons.—These small Carnivora abound in great 
variety in this country. The following species have come under 
our notice:—The civet (Viverra civetta), the suricate (Rhyza@na 
suricalla), the gray ichneumon (Herpestes Pharaonis), the banded 
mungos (Herpestes banditus), and the golden mungos. 
The civet is a beautiful litle animal of a yellowish colour, marked 
with large brown spots; the hair is long on the top of the back, 
and when erected forms a mane. By setting steel traps in their 
runs we have often caught them: they are easily discovered by the 
strong musk-like perfume which pervades the spots they frequent. 
The scent from these animals is not much used now, but formerly 
it was greatly esteemed: this is contained in two glands concealed 
under the tail, which is long and bushy. The entire length of the 
civet is two and a half feet. We believe there would be no difficulty 
in domesticating it, but our own experience is very limited. We 
once took one alive, but its leg being unfortunately broken it only 
