THE MUNGOOSE 
positive pest to the agriculturalist. For many 
years I have kept these little mungooses in cap- 
tivity. They make nice interesting pets, but they 
will seldom allow themselves to be touched, and 
when their suspicions are aroused they will snap 
viciously at the fingers. 
When captured very young and handled daily 
they become perfectly tame, but will not allow a 
stranger to approach. 
The sight of a strange dog at all times makes 
them wild with terror. 
I kept a mungoose for a considerable time in a 
large wire-netting enclosure, to observe its ways, 
Whenever it heard a strange sound it stood straight 
up on its hind legs, peering in all directions from the 
trunk of a tree which was fixed in its cage. This 
tree sloped sufficiently for the mungoose to be able 
to run up it, which it frequently did. In fact it 
spent most of its time perched on the top of the tree 
trunk. Its food, which consisted of raw and cooked 
meat, was always carried up the tree, piece by piece. 
It disliked its food getting contaminated with dirt, 
and on picking up a mouthful it ‘would shake it 
vigorously. If a live rat was introduced into the 
enclosure, escape was hopeless, for the mungoose 
was upon it in an instant. 
Several times I introduced Puff Adders into its 
cage, and in each instance it succeeded in killing 
them. The head was always chewed up and 
swallowed first, then the appetite was satisfied on 
af 
