NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
behind us. Peering into a nesting-box we were 
greeted with a succession of fierce hisses, and then 
an evil-smelling musky odour permeated the air. 
We at once recognised this as the fluid excreted by 
the genet. When this animal is brought to bay 
it excretes a viscid yellow fluid which is manufac- 
tured by a pair of glands under, and at the root of, 
the tail. This fluid is a negative weapon of defence, 
for the odour is so nauseating that most animals go 
off in disgust and leave the genet in peace. 
Kicking the nesting box at the back, a pair of 
genets crept swiftly out and dashed for a small 
hole in the wall, through which they made frantic 
endavours to pass. One managed to get its body 
jammed half way through, but could proceed no 
further, and my friend, stepping quickly forward, 
killed the animal, and presently did likewise with the 
other. It seems the hole through which the genets 
obtained entry into the fowl-house was just about 
sufficiently large to admit of their bodies, containing 
empty stomachs, to glide through ; but after dining 
not wisely but too well, their stomachs were too 
distended to allow of them again passing through 
the hole ; and so, finding themselves trapped, they 
sought out the darkest corner to await a reduction 
of their girth. 
When chased from its lair by dogs and brought 
to bay, the genet seeks to intimidate its foes by 
hissing, erecting its fur, and discharging its vile- 
smelling secretion. When attempts are made to 
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