THE MUNGOOSE 
turnal otherwise, and never ventures from cover 
before dusk. 
It makes its lair in crevices amongst the bush- 
covered rocks, and in the midst of dense masses of 
scrub; in holes amongst the roots of forest trees, 
and sometimes down the deserted holes of the 
Aard Vark. 
Although when brought to bay they make a 
desperate resistance, yet they are easily overcome 
by dogs and killed. They are frequently caught in 
baited spring traps, and are often destroyed by 
poisoning meat and laying it near their haunts. 
The difficulty, however, is to discover the locality 
of the lair, for when these animals take to poultry 
thieving they become very cunning. I have seen 
them chased by dogs into some neighbouring dense 
bush or rocky bush-strewn krantz, but on these 
places being thoroughly hunted through with a 
pack of dogs the following day, no sign of the animal 
could be obtained, but often on proceeding across 
a hill to another bush half a mile to a couple or 
more miles away, the thief would be discovered. 
One night three turkeys belonging to a friend 
were killed and partly devoured. We poisoned the 
remains of one with strychnine, and with the aid 
of his dogs, the following day he found the dead 
bodies of a pair of White-tailed Mungooses which 
had been gripped by the poison and died on their 
way back to their lair, a distance of some three 
hundred yards from the dead turkey. When 
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