212 THE HUNTING DOG— THE SERVAL 



trying such an experiment, it is nevertheless 

 stated on excellent authority that hunting dogs, 

 if captured young, grow extraordinarily tame. 

 Their young, which are believed to appear three 

 or four to the litter, are produced in regularly 

 constructed kennels, one of which I have seen. 

 These are hollowed out underground, an ant-bear 

 hole being selected for the beginning, and warmly 

 lined with grasses and leaves. The pups remain 

 several months in these retreats, their mothers 

 providing for their necessities in much the same 

 unlovely fashion as the mother hyena. 



I suppose they have few enemies, except man, 

 capable of making any impression on their 

 numbers, which, from all accounts, though slowly, 

 tend gradually to diminish. It will be an excellent 

 day for African game and its preservation when 

 means can be devised to give practical effect 

 to some well-thought-out scheme for this un- 

 necessary creature's complete extermination. 



The chief remaining carnivorous families to 

 be enumerated are the servals, civets, genets, and 

 mungooses. 



The Serval is another leopard-like animal to 

 some slight extent, spotted after a curious fashion, 

 the simple markings displaying a curious tendency 

 to run into one another, and almost, here and 

 there, to form stripes. He is, moreover, although 

 much smaller than the leopard in body, endowed 

 with longer legs and, proportionately, a much 

 shorter tail. The general colouring and appear- 

 ance of these animals are not unsuggestive of the 

 cheetah, whilst, on the other hand, the tufted 



