WARNING COLORS 
from a long distance; but, as if to increase this notoriety 
to its utmost, the animal always hoists its tail, and the tip 
of it— or, in some species, the whole of this pomponlike ap- 
pendage —is glaring white. Conspicuous? You can see it 
bobbing along above the grass as far away as you can see any- 
thing of its size.” A similar contrast of colors is displayed 
by most other species; but whether the signal is heeded, and 
these animals so escape attack by the larger beasts and birds 
of prey as often as the theory requires, is a more doubtful 
matter, which I have discussed at some length elsewhere.® | 
The characteristic odor proceeds from a pair of glands, one on each side 
of the vent of the rectum, and its primary purpose, no doubt, is connected 
with the need for the mutual attraction of the sexes in the mating season. 
When not excited to discharge it, few of these animals emit a bad odor, and 
tame skunks and badgers are no more offensive than other flesh-eating 
pets, even when the glands have not been surgically removed, as is often 
done; nor do they soil their fur or their habitations except by accident. 
A connecting link between the musteline and the present, or 
meline, groups is found in the African zorillas, of which the 
best known is the Cape polecat, — an almost exact miniature 
of our skunk, and giving an equally offensive secretion; it 
and its Egyptian and Syrian cousins are noted 
poultry thieves, but are sometimes kept as tamed 
mousers. An allied East Indian genus (Helictis) contains the 
“ferret badgers,” small, bushy tailed, gayly colored, tree- 
climbing, omnivorous forest animals of India and the Malay 
Islands. Next comes the “‘ratel,” as it is known in Africa, or 
“Indian badger” in Asia. It is a powerful animal, bigger 
than a badger and of similar shape, but black on the face and 
lower half of the body up to a line running from the forehead 
and above the small ears along the sides to the top of the tail, 
above which the color is gray; the creature thus looks as ifit 
wore a white-edged blanket. Heuglin gives the Arab name as 
“abu djaga,” and says it feeds on all sorts of larve and grubs, 
175 
Ratel. 
