MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 819 



1 could have told a tiger even by quarter moon had he been at the kill so 

 you can safely take it from me — there is not the shadow of a doubt that it 

 was a hyrena." 



Daltongung, IQth August 1916. F. FIELD. 



[In Volume XIX of our Journal at page 5l8, Cajit- R. C. Burke described a 

 fight between a Hyajna and a Panther over a ' kill ,.'' in which the Panther was 

 driven off by the Hyajna. — Editors.] 



No. II.— AN ALBINO TIGER FROM THE CENTRAL PROVINCES. 



I have just had the opportunity of examining the skin of an albino tiger 

 from the Central Provinces ; it was killed about six years ago in the Pendra 

 Zamindari of the Bilaspur District. This skin with the paws cut away is 

 piped with green flannel and mounted with the head raised and the mouth 

 open. It measured from nose to tail 7 feet 6 inches, of which the tail only 

 measured 2 feet 6 inches, but this has probably been shortened by the 

 dresser as it was not intact near the root. The narrowest part across the 

 skin measured 2 feet 8 inches. It was cream coloured throughout but 

 paler on the head and the stripes were chocolate brown. The fur was 

 rather long and soft in texture ; its whiskers, of which only three remained 

 were dark-brown and white. It is still in fairly good condition except for 

 a few small bare patches on the face and behind the ears. The animal had 

 been shot by an uncle of the owner (Syed Anwar Padsha, Revenue Inspector, 

 Seoni Chhapara, 0. P.) who brought it to the museum with a hope of 

 disposing of it and my object of putting this in the journal is merely to put 

 the fact on record and to give any would-be purchasers of such curiosities 

 an opportunity. 



Centkal Museum, Nagpuk, E. A. D"ABREU, f.z.s. 



lit May 1916. 



[In Volume XIX of this Journal a white tiger was recorded from Orissa and the 

 other occurrences on record were also given. -^Eds.] 



No. III.— NOTES ON THE BURMESE FERRET-BADGER 

 {HELICTIS PERSON AT A). 



The distribution of this species in Blanford's Mammalia is given as Pegu, 

 Manipur and Cachar. It is however to be found in the Bhutan Duars ; 

 where owing to its nocturnal habits, it is probably not quite so rare as it 

 appears to be. 



During the day it resides chiefly in burrows, excavated by itself. A 

 favourite situation for these burrows being the sides of a drain or under a 

 tree ; I have also taken it in grass land. The usual number of young in a 

 litter is three ; these are born blind m the burrows, generally in the month 

 of June, and show the same pattern of colouration as the adults. I have 

 been unable to ascertain the time required for the young to open their 

 eyes. In two where I tried this, I kept the young on one occasion for ten 

 days and in the other for a fortnight, but in neither case did the eyes show 

 any signs of opening. This may have been possibly due to an unsuitable diet. 



A few years ago I saw what appeared to me to be an undoubted skin of 

 Helictis orientalis, the brown Ferret-badger, in a friend's bungalow some 

 twelve miles west of this garden, on the other side of the Toorsa river. Since 

 then 1 have been constantly on the look out for this species here, but have 

 failed to find one in this District. So it is just possible that the dividing 

 line between these two species may prove to be the Toorsa river. 



Ha.simaea T. E., H. V. O'DONEL. 



Bhutan Duars, l%th Jultj 1916. ' 



