NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
thickets. A favourite lair is in the midst of a dense 
thorny mass of scrub. This mungoose is easily 
hunted out of its lair by terrier dogs and killed. 
When attacked and overtaken by dogs it seeks to 
intimidate them by snapping and giving vent to 
a hissing, spitting sort of growl. It offers a very 
feeble resistance, and can easily be killed by an 
experienced fox terrier. 
I have frequently seen these mungooses, either 
singly or in pairs. They usually haunt the bush- 
veld, rocky shrub-covered hillsides, and margins 
of forests. They were, at one time, common in a 
dense but small native forest known as the Town 
Bush, near Pietermaritzburg, from the cover of 
which they issued forth on moonlight nights or at 
dawn, and levied a heavy toll on the poultry of the 
residents of the Town Bush Valley. 
The hair on the back of this species of mungoose 
is rather long, and when alarmed the animal erects 
it, which gives it the appearance of being double 
its actual size. Many species of animals, including 
our domestic cat, have the power of erecting the 
fur of their backs and tails for the purpose of in- 
timidating enemies, by appearing to be more for- 
midable than they in reality are. The fur of the 
Grey Mungoose is short on the head, but gradually 
gets longer towards the tail, where it is about four 
inches in length. The colour at a first glance is 
grey, but on close inspection it will be noticed that 
each hair is narrowly ringed black and white, which 
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