MUNGOOSES. 
477 
north as Algoa Bay. In regard to their habits, we may quote from Mrs. A. Martin, 
who, in her work entitled Home Life on an Ostrich Farm, states that these animals 
form most admirable and amusing little pets, nearly every homestead on the Karru 
having one or more of these creatures. In their wild state the meerkats live in 
colonies or warrens, burrowing deep holes in the sandy soil, and “ feeding chiefly 
on succulent bulbs, which they scratch up with the long, curved, black claws on 
their fore-feet. They are devoted sun-worshippers, and in the early morning, 
before it is daylight, they emerge from their burrows, and wait in rows till their 
divinity-appears, when they bask joyfully in his beams. They are very numerous 
on the Karru, and, as you ride or drive along through the veldt, you often come 
the meerkat (5 nat. size). 
upon little colonies of them sitting up sunning themselves, and looking, in their 
quaint and pretty favourite attitude, like tiny dogs begging. As you approach, 
they look at you fearlessly and impudently, allowing you to come quite close; then, 
when their confiding manner has tempted you to get down in the wild hope of 
catching one of them, suddenly all pop so swiftly into their little holes that they 
seem to have disappeared by magic.” 
Although in the Cape it appears that the name meerkat is also often applied 
to the thick-tailed mungoose ( Cynictis ), it is the true meerkat alone which makes 
such a charming pet. “The quaint, old-fashioned little fellow, continues Mrs. 
Martin, “ is as neatly made as a small bird; his coat, of the softest fur, with 
markings not unlike those of a tabby cat, is always well kept and spotlessly clean; 
his tiny feet, ears, and nose are all most daintily and delicately finished oft; and 
the broad circle of black bordering his large dark eye serves, like the antimony of 
