IN CAPTIVITY IN LOWER BENGAL. 71 



only a pair in one cage; otherwise they fight and injure each other 

 to a serious extent. That none of these animals has ever lived for more 

 than five or six years is, to a great extent, due to this fact. Either the 

 new arrivals should be refused a place in a garden, or kept in separate 

 cages. A small box for the animals to sleep in during the day is in- 

 dispensable. As they are arboreal in habits, a branch of a tree stuck 

 inside the cage will be much appreciated by them. 



Food. — The usual food of palm civets in captivity consists of 

 boiled meat, fruits and eggs ; but they are omnivorous, and would eat 

 almost everything. Entrails of fowls or pigeons, frogs, snails, &c, are 

 sometimes given as a change of diet. Boiled rice, fish and vegetables 

 are also acceptable to them. 



Observations on the habits of Palm Civets. 



Coiled up inside the box or in one corner of the cage, palm 

 civets pass most of their time during the day in sleep, gathering care- 

 fully round them the straw, hay or dry leaves provided for their 

 bedding. They have a prehensile tail, although they do not all 

 appear to possess it in the same degree, and this limited prehensile 

 power of their tail may be observed when one has to be dislodged from 

 a forbidden place of refuge. As a last resource it holds on with the end 

 of its tail to anything it may chance to find. The palm civets emit 

 an offensive smell owing to their possession of odour glands, and their 

 presence in a bush or tree is easily perceived from this cause. 



(72) THE HIMALAYAN PALM CIYET. 



(PARADOXUEUS GRAYI— Bennett.) 



The chief features of this species are its uniform grey colour, and its 

 woolly fur. Some specimens are much lighter in colour than others : 

 the terminal half of the tail in some is black ; head, with the exception 

 of the forehead, ear, and chin, brown or blackish : a broad band below 

 each ear and a narrow line down the nose and a spot below each eye ; 

 the whiskers are white. 



Sab.— Assam, Sikhim, Nepal, Arracan, and the Andaman Islands. 

 Specimens have been received from Darjeeling and the Andaman 

 Islands. 



Length of life in captivity. 

 One lived for about five years. 



Treatment in health. 



May be treated like the other palm civets. Those obtained from 

 Darjeeling should not be exposed to sun, but kept in a cool place. It 

 is well, if possible, to keep a civet like this, which is very cleanly in its 

 habits and does not emit much offensive odour, in an isolated cage 

 nnder a tree, or some other sheltered spot. 



