1905.] MAMMALS OF SOUTHERX CAMliROONS. 75 



She had milk in two teats ; that was in October. In April a 

 man showed me a young " zoe " the size of a two-week's-old 

 kitten — one of three found in a lair not far from a village. 

 About August a man shot a mother that had two or three little 

 ones in a nest in the same big grass mentioned above. 



The Civet visits the fields of growing corn (maize) at night, 

 and breaks down the stalks and eats the tender ears. It prowls 

 about chicken-coops at night, and sometimes catches poultry. 



The Genet (Genetta). 



The " nsifi," as the Genet is called, is the greatest poultry 

 thief of the country. From its proverbial shyness, it occupies 

 the place in popular talk and tales that the fox does in Europe. 

 It hides in the thick bushes about villages, ready to snap up any 

 fowl that wanders too far away. But it is also an inhabitant of 

 the big forest, for it is often killed far from any human habitation. 



A female killed in January was suckling. 



POIANA filCHARDSONI. 



This rather I'ai'e little beast is called " cyan." It is found only 

 in the forest, sleeping in the daytime on thick tangled vines, and 

 walking only when disturbed. A female brought me in October 

 had milk in two teats. A native hunter told me that the " oyan " 

 produces two young. 



The Nandinb {JVandinki hinotata). 



The Nandine, or " mvae," lives on vegetable food, such as the 

 fruits of the " aseh " tree and the little gourd-like fruits of a vine 

 {Liiff'a hatesii), and these are used by natives to bait traps for 

 catching it. It forages at night and sleeps in the daytime, in thick 

 tangles of vines in the tree-tops. It is sometimes seen at dusk, 

 either in the forest or in village clearings, creeping along the 

 branches of a tree. One evening, at my camp in the forest, two 

 were heard in the tree-tops near by, calling to each other in a 

 small, faint voice, like a kitten mewing. 



Though it is thus arboi-eal, it often runs around on the ground 

 at night and also visits villages. It is frequently caught at 

 night in dead-fall traps near villages. Once in a village where I 

 was staying, happening to be up in the early morning before the 

 people had come out of their houses, I saw a " mvae " trotting 

 along in the street. Another morning soon after that I noticed 

 that something had been gnawing during the night at the bits of 

 flesh left on a, skeleton of a chimpanzee I had hanging up in the 

 palaver-liouse to diy. The skeleton was hung farther away from 

 the post of the house, but still the next night it was gnawed 

 again, though the animal had to go along the under side of the 

 ridgepole to reach it. The third night the bush- rope by which 

 the skeleton was hung was leng-thened, so that the animal had 

 also to descend the bushrope ; and still the skeleton sho^\■ed in the 



