7 A MR. G. L. BATKS ON THK [Feb. 7, 



Two rather small young onesj also said to have been dug out of 

 a hole in a bank, were brought to me in the month of March. 

 They lived three days, drinking a little milk, and one of them 

 eating also bits of boiled egg, which it seized in its mouth with a 

 sudden motion, as if afraid they would get away. When not 

 curled up asleep they were continually squirming and gliding 

 over each other with a motion that made one think of snakes. 

 Their movements were very quick. They occasionally uttered a 

 little squeaking noise. 



As to the time of breeding, it may be remarked that two 

 females, each with embryos in the body that would have been 

 born in a shoi't time, were caught in the month of June. 



The Leopard {Fells pardus). 



As already stated, traces of Leopards are often seen, and theii' 

 ravages are frequent, though they are seldom seen theiD selves. 

 When the natives do find them in the forest, they are usually 

 hidden in the closest thickets, and their presence is indicated 

 by the alai'med chattering of squirrels and birds about them. 

 Hunters often find partly-eaten carcasses that leopards have left. 

 They say that of monkeys the Drill is most often found thus. 



Leopards are said to hunt in pairs, a male and a female togethei-. 

 If three are together, they are a mother and two well-grown 

 cubs. The she-leopard brings forth two cubs, sometimes three, 

 in large hollow logs or hollows under rocks. 



I have often seen droppings of leopards in the path. The kind 

 of hair in them shows on what the leopard has been feeding. 

 Sometimes the long roan hair of the tail of cei'tain antelopes is 

 recognised, and sometimes the quills of porcupines. I have seen 

 the marks of leopards' claws on the bark of trees. Once a soft- 

 wood tree on old cleared land was seen with scars of claw-marks 

 in the bark at regidar intervals clear up to the first branches, 

 1 5 or 20 feet from the ground. There appeared to have been two 

 animals, and the natives with me remarked that the scai'S were 

 made by a male leopard chasing a female up the tree. 



The natives consider the flesh of the Leopard the best of 

 eating. 



The Civet {Vive^'ra civetta). 



I have more than once heard in a thicket in the forest a 

 snarling noise like that of clogs fighting, and been told that it 

 was made by two " bezoe." " Zoe " is the Bulu name of the 

 Civet. I once saw a " zoe " trotting along in the forest with its 

 nose to the ground, apparently smelling for worms or other 

 creatures under the dead leaves. 



The " zoe " hides also in the big grass {Panicum maximum) 

 that comes up on old cleared ground about villages. A boy cutting 

 grass on tlie outskirts of the Mission premises found an old white- 

 whiskered female curled up asleep, and killed her with his cutlass. 



