74 A HAND-BOOK OF THE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 



(76) THE SMALL INDIAN MUNGOOSE. 



(HEEPESTES AUEOPUNCTATUS— (Hodgs.) ) 



Hindi — Neula. Bengali — Beji, Newl, 



(77) THE COMMON INDIAN MUNGOOSE. 

 (HEEPESTES MOTTGO— {Ghmel.) ) 



Both these mungooses (76 and 77) are so common in Bengal that 

 no description is necessary. 



Hab. — The small Indian mungoose is found in the Lower Himalayas 

 from Sikhim to Kashmir, in theNorth- West Provinces, the Punjab, Sindh, 

 Beluchistan, Kandahar, Southern Persia. It is common in Lower 

 Bengal, and is found as far south as Midnapore. It is also found in 

 Chittagong, Cachar, Assam, and Upper Burmah, and also in Arracan, 

 Pegu, and the Malayan peninsula. The common Indian mungoose has 

 also an extensive range of distribution, being found throughout the 

 Peninsula of India and in Ceylon also. On the west it extends as 

 far as Sindh, Afghanistan, and probably Beluchistan. It is found in 

 Bengal and Assam : not so common about Calcutta as the small Indian 

 mungoose. 



Length of life in captivity. 



The longest period during which a small Indian mungoose has 

 lived in the garden has been six years and a few months : the common 

 Indian mungooses have been very short lived, none having survived 

 more than two years. 



Treatment in health. 



Sousing. — Arrangements similar to those recommended for housing 

 a small Indian civet or a genet will be found to answer well for these 

 creatures. A small isolated wire cage, with a proper roof and good 

 canvas screens as protection against cold and draughts, and a small box 

 inside for the animals to sleep in, placed under the shade of a tree, and 

 standing on wooden legs some three feet above ground, or on a brick 

 platform of the same height, is by far the best accommodation for a 

 pair of mungooses. Mungooses are very quarrelsome animals, and 

 therefore there ought not to be more than a pair in any single division. 

 They should have a thick bedding of straw to lie upon. 



Food. — Minced meat, eggs, small birds, insects, bread, plantains, 

 &c, form the ordinary diet of a mungoose in captivity; the more varied 

 the food, the better for the health of the animal. Frogs, lizards, beetles, 

 snails, may occasionally be given. It easily kills a bird or a mammal 

 much larger than itself. 



Breeding. — No mungooses have ever bred inside a cage, but numbers 

 of them (H. anropunctatus) annually breed in the garden, where they 

 live in a state of semi-domestication. They breed in summer, and 

 litters have been found to consist of from two to six young ones. 



Transport. — These little creatures are so quarrelsome and pugnaci- 

 ous that they have often been observed to arrive in a mutilated condition 

 when two or more specimens have been placed in a small cage. A 

 deal box, 12 inches high and about 18 inches in length and breadth, 



