44- 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. I. 



habit the forests, making their nests among the roots of 

 the trees, and feeding, in the season, on the ripe seeds of 

 the nilloo. Like the lemmings of Norway and Lapland, 



COFFEE RAT. 



they migrate in vast numbers on the occurrence of a 

 scarcity of their ordinary food. The Malabar coolies 

 are so fond of their flesh, that they evince a preference 

 for those districts in which the coffee plantations are 

 subject to their incursions, where they fry the rats in 

 coco-nut oil, or convert them into curry. 



Bandicoot — Another favourite article of food with 

 the coolies is the pig-rat or Bandicoot ] , which attains on 

 those hills the weight of two or three pounds, and grows 

 to nearly the length of two feet. As it feeds on grain 

 and roots, its flesh is said to be delicate, and much re- 

 sembling young pork. 



1 Mus bandicota, Beckst. The ruption of the Telinga name pan- 

 English term bandicoot is a cor- di/coku, literally pig-rat. 



