ICHNEUMON. 
257 
a being with which he was hitherto totally unac- 
quainted. His first emotion seemed to be astonish- 
ment mixed with anger, for his hair became erect ; 
but in an instant after he slipped behind the rep- 
tile, and with a remarkable swiftness and agility 
leaped upon its head, seized it, and crushed it be- 
tween his teeth. This essay and new aliment 
seemed to have awakened in him his innate and 
destructive voracity, which till then had given way 
to the gentleness he had acquired from his edu- 
cation. I had about my house several curious kinds 
of fowls, among which he had been brought up, 
and which, till then, he had suffered to go and come 
twenty times unmolested and unregarded; but a 
few days after, when he found himself alone, he 
strangled them every one, ate a little, and, as ap- 
peared, drank the blood of two.” 
This little animal is found in its wild state in 
the southern regions of Asia, from Egypt to Java ; 
and is common, according to Kolbe, in the fields 
about the Cape of Good Hope. He frequents the 
banks of rivers, but is frequently driven from them 
by inundations ; when he seeks the higher grounds, 
and even ventures to approach the habitations of 
men in search of prey. Serpents and birds are 
equally the objects of his pursuit, and he darts 
Undauntedly upon that most venomous of all the 
eastern snakes, the cobra di capello , and seldom fails 
of victory : however, he is sometimes Wounded in 
the combat, and is then said to seek immediate re- 
vol. 1. s 
