4512 TuE ZooLocist—JULy, 1875. 
It knew its name, and came running from any part of the deck on 
being called: it ate readily soaked bread and porridge. When 
enraged the banded mungos has the power of emitting a very dis- 
agreeable odour, which prevents its being often captured. In length 
it is about fifteen inches, and is of a reddish gray colour, banded 
across the back with stripes of black. 
There is another common species, of a uniform golden yellow 
colour, which is about the same size as the last mentioned. It leads 
a solitary life in holes in the bush, and hunts its prey in the same 
manner as the ferret, following them into their burrows. We have 
caught and caged this creature: it is omnivorous and easily reared. 
The Kafirs call it “ubose,” and say that it destroys snakes. 
Divers.—The darter (Plotus Anhinga) is well known, being found 
both in the Old and New World: it is pretty common on the coast 
of Natal, and often wanders up the rivers, which makes it seem 
almost as much a fresh- as a salt-water bird. We cannot state 
positively whether they breed inland or not, but Dr. Versfeld, of the 
Cape, found an egg on the Burg river, supposed to be laid by the 
darter. We shot a fine specimen of this bird one evening, whilst 
watching for ibises on the banks of the Ifafa: it alighted on a branch 
of an overhanging tree. The plumage is glossy black; the shafts 
of the feathers of the wing-coverts and plumes are fulvous; the 
throat and under parts of the neck are fawn-coloured. A dis- 
tinguishing feature of this bird is the peculiar corrugated feathers 
on the top of the wings and tail. We have many times noticed 
this elegant bird pruning and sunning itself on a flat rock in the 
middle of the stream. The old naturalists well named this the 
“ snake-bird,” for it might readily be mistaken for a water snake 
when swimming, with its long curved neck and bill alone visible. 
The entire length of the darter is two feet seven inches, of which 
the neck is nearly half. 
Phalacrocorax capensis.—This cormorant, like the former, more 
properly belongs to the sea-birds, but we shot the specimen before 
us in this neighbourhood, seven miles from the sea. In size it is 
two feet four inches, stout and heavily built; general colour black- 
green; throat and breast whitish. The feathers of the wing-coverts 
and scapularies are metallic gray, bordered with black. We occa- 
sionally see small flocks of this bird, coming from the sea, flying 
very rapidly, but they do not stop with us long. It is called by 
the colonists the “ wild goose,” and is sometimes eaten, but the 
