KOTES ON TUB AFRICAN CRESTED RAT. 1091 



50, Notes on the Afiicnn Ci-estcd ]\at (Loj>Inowi/.s iiuJimtsi). 

 By G. II. Goldfinch,* 



[Received July 9, 1923 : Head November 0, 1923.] 



N.ntive (Wandorobo) name " Monget" or " Ermoiiget." 

 The first one of these animals I got was when I was stationed 

 at Nakuru ; it came from the Aberdare side. It Avas taken out of a 

 hole in a tree b}' a Wandorobo whom I had sent to collect a by rax. 

 I found that the Wandorobo had the superstition about this 

 ixnimal that if anybody got bitten by it he died. I think this may 

 be taken to mean that somebody got bitten and got blood poisoning 

 and died, as their bite is harmless. However, after this old man 

 found he was unhurt, I had no difficulty in getting all I wanted, 

 and at one time I had something like a dozen of them. I foiget 

 whether I had one born in captivity, but J. remember one 

 delightful toto. With regard to food, I have come to the 

 conclusion that besides eating leaves etc. they probably also 

 want, or rather eat, insects, small mammals, young birds, etc. I 

 used to feed mine on sweet potato leaves mainly, but found 

 they would also eat lucerne, wild clover, etc., and would eat the 

 potatoes themselves, but did not seem to care much aliout 

 them. On this diet 1 have had them live six months, as far as 

 I can remember. AVln^ I think they are also carnivorous is this : 

 I kept them in n. sort of aviary with a row of boxes for 

 them to go into, and I had got hold of a winged Guinea pigeoii 

 and thought it would be a good place for him, but in the morning 

 all that remained were Ji, few feathers. They are, I think, purely 

 nocturnal animals, but run about much more on the ground 

 than tree-hyrax. They are most cunning in escaping from 

 cages. I have met mine, when they got out, trotting along 

 the road to Nakuru in the middle of the night. I gave two 

 or three to the late 0. W. Woodhouse to try and get home to the 

 Zoo, but they died on the voyage. I daresay what troubles them 

 is the heat, as they come from the cold forests. I think they are 

 pretty hardy really, and there seems to be no bother about 

 getting them to feed Avhen they are freshly caught. ]\fine 

 used to come out of their boxes just as it began to get dark. 

 The best method of handling them is by the tail. There would, 

 I think, be no difficulty in getting them if they were wanted. 

 This, by the way, is not the animal that gnaws old tusks of ivory, 

 as Sir F. Jackson suggested. What does that is the porcupine. 



* Communicnted by the Seceetakt. 



