2 FOOD OF THE RATEL. 
still better pleased to hear of the little bird 
which is so useful to the Hottentots, and to 
the real Ratel. 
‘The writer whom I last mentioned, 
quoting, though with partial incredulity as 
before, relates, that Bees furnish the Ratel 
with his principal, if not his only, means of 
subsistence. These insects are accustomed 
to take up their abode in holes in the earth, 
formed by various burrowing quadrupeds ; 
and the Ratel is endowed with peculiar sa- 
gacity for discovering their nests, which it 
undermines with its powerful claws, in order 
to feast upon the honey contained in them.* 
Aware that sun-set is the period at which the 
Bees return to their homes, it chooses that 
time for making its observations, which are 
conducted in a very curious manner. Seated 
upon the ground, with one of its paws raised, _ 
so as to shade from its eyes the rays of the 
declining sun, it peers cautiously on either 
side of this singular kind of parasol, until it 
perceives a number of Bees flying in the 
* « A particular faculty,” says another writer, 
“* of discovering and attacking them within their in- 
trenchments.” 
