106 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
native of India, is a pale gray, the hairs being for the 
most part of a dirty yellowish white, relieved towards 
their extremities by narrow rings of brown. The ‘head 
and limbs are darker than the rest of the body. 
The habits of the Ichneumons are very similar to those 
of the ferret. In the localities where they abound, their 
sanguinary disposition and predatory inclinations render 
them a real pest to the farm-yard, to which they pay 
their nocturnal visits for the purpose of destroying the 
poultry. They also make war upon rats, birds, and 
reptiles, and devour the eggs of the latter with the 
greatest avidity. Endowed with a remarkable degree of 
courage in proportion to their size, they do not hesitate 
to attack any animal that is not obviously more than a 
match for them. Even in captivity they retain much of 
their native spirit; and so great is their activity and 
determination that the individual now in the Tower 
actually on one occasion killed no fewer than a dozen 
full grown rats, which were loosed to it in a room sixteen 
feet square, in less than a minute and a half. They are 
very easily tamed, become attached to those with whom 
they are familiar and to the house in which they live, and 
will follow their master about almost like a dog. 
