Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 40

It will readily take to water if hard pressed."--_Jerdon_.

The drug civet is usually collected from the glands of this and other species, which are confined for the purpose in cages in which they can hardly turn round, and it is sc.r.a.ped from the pouch with a spoon.

Sometimes the animal rubs off the secretion on the walls and bars of its cage, which are then sc.r.a.ped; but the highest price is given for the pouch cut from the civet when killed. In the London Zoological Gardens the collection of the perfume, which is rubbed off against the walls of the cage, is a valued perquisite of the keeper. Cuvier says of a civet which was kept in captivity in Paris: "Its musky odour was always perceptible, but stronger than usual when the animal was irritated; at such times little lumps of odoriferous matter fell from its pouch. These ma.s.ses were also produced when the animal was left to itself, but only at intervals of fifteen to twenty days."

NO. 222. VIVERRA CIVETTINA.

_The Malabar Civet-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 120_).

HABITAT.--Throughout the Malabar coast, abundant in Travancore, and found occasionally in the uplands of Wynaad and Coorg.

DESCRIPTION.--Hair long, coa.r.s.e, and of a dusky or brownish-grey, and marked with interrupted transverse bands or spots in rows, two obliquely transverse black lines on the neck; the snout, throat, and neck are white; the tail tinged with black. From the shoulders along the back a mane or crest of lengthened hair.

SIZE.--Same as last species.

This species closely resembles the African civet--only that in the latter the mane begins on the occiput. Jerdon supposes that it may be found in Ceylon, but it is not mentioned by Kellaart. It is found chiefly in forests and richly-wooded lowlands, and is stated to be very destructive to poultry. The young may, however, be reared on farinaceous food, with the addition of a little fish and raw meat; when older on flesh alone.

NO. 223. VIVERRA MEGASPILA.

NATIVE NAME.--_Khyoung-myen_.

HABITAT.--Burmah, also Malayan peninsula and archipelago (?)

[Ill.u.s.tration: _VIVERRA MEGASPILA_.]

DESCRIPTION.--The body markings larger, blacker and fewer in number than in last species.

SIZE.--Same as last.

Blyth states that this is nearly allied to the last species, but differs from _V. tangalunga_ of Sumatra (with which some consider it synonymous) as the latter is smaller, with a more cat-like tail, and more numerous spots. Gray says that _V. tangalunga_ has the tail black above and ringed on the lower side.

The next species is smaller and more vermiform, with acute compressed claws, a shorter tail, and no crest, and of more scansorial habits.

It forms the sub-genus _Viverricula_ of Hodgson, but it is not desirable to perpetuate the sub-division.

NO. 224. VIVERRA MALACCENSIS.

_The Lesser Civet-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 121_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Mushak-billi_, _Katas_, _Kasturi_, Hindi; _Gando-gaula_, _Gandha-gokul_, Bengali; _Jowadi-manjur_, Mahrathi; _Punagin-bek_, Canarese; _Punagu-pilli_, Telegu; _Sayer_, _Bug-nyul_, Nepalese; _Wa-young-kyoung-bank_, Aracanese; _Kyoung-ka-do_, Burmese; _Ooralawa_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--India generally, with a.s.sam, Burmah, and Ceylon. It extends also to the Malayan countries, Java and China.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Viverra Malaccensis_.]

DESCRIPTION.--General colour greyish-brown, spotted black; the dorsal spots elongated, and forming longitudinal interrupted streaks or stripes on the back and croup; the sides and limbs have also spots in lines; a long black streak from ear to shoulder, and some transverse lines on the sides of the neck. Abdomen nearly spotless; feet and part of legs dusky-brown; tail long and tapering, marked with eight or nine black rings.

SIZE.--Head and body, 22 to 24 inches; tail, 16 to 17 inches.

According to Jerdon, "it lives in holes in the ground or in banks, occasionally under rocks or in dense thickets, now and then taking shelter in drains and out-houses." Hodgson says: "These animals dwell in forests or detached woods and copses, whence they wander freely into the open country by day (occasionally at least) as well as by night. They are solitary and single wanderers, even the pair seldom being seen together, and they feed promiscuously upon small animals, birds' eggs, snakes, frogs, insects, besides some fruits or roots. In the Terai a low caste of woodmen, called Mushahirs, eat the flesh." Mr. Swinhoe affirms that the Chinese also eat its flesh, and adds: "but a portion that I had cooked was so affected with the civet odour that I could not palate it." The fur is valued in China as a lining for coats, and is bought by those who cannot afford the more expensive skins. Jerdon had one which was perfectly tame; it caught rats and squirrels at times, as also sparrows and other birds.

It is kept alive by the natives in India and Ceylon for the sake of the secretion. Kellaart says it is a great destroyer of poultry, and that it will enter a yard in daylight and carry off a fowl or a duck.

It is much dreaded by the Chinese for the havoc it commits in the hen-roost.

_GENUS PRIONODON_.

Between the last genus and this should come the _Genets_, which are not found in India, but chiefly in Africa, and one species is common in the south of Europe, where in some parts it is domesticated for the purpose of catching mice. It has rudimentary pouches only, which do not yield the musky secretion of the civets. The Linsang or _Prionodon_ is a very cat-like animal, which was once cla.s.sed with the Felidae; the body is long and slender; the limbs very short; fur soft, close and erect, very richly coloured and spotted with black; the grinders are tubercular; claws retractile; soles furred; tail long, cylindrical, and ringed with black; no sub-caudal pouch. The female has two pectoral and two inguinal mammae. Teeth, 38; molars, 5--5/6--6.

NO. 225. PRIONODON PARDICOLOR.

_The Tiger Civet or Linsang_ (_Jerdon's No. 122_).

NATIVE NAME.--_Zik-chum_, Bhotia; _Suliyu_, Lepcha.

HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim.

DESCRIPTION.--"Rich orange buff or fulvous, spotted with black; the neck above with four irregular lines; the body above and on the sides with large, entire elliptic or squarish marks, eight in transverse, and seven in longitudinal series, diminis.h.i.+ng in size on the dorsal ridge, which has an interrupted dark line, and extending outside the limbs to the digits; below entirely unspotted; tail with eight or nine nearly perfect and equal rings" (_Jerdon_). "Skull elongate; nose rather short, compressed; brain-case narrow in front, swollen over the ears, and contracted and produced behind; orbits, not defined behind, confluent with the temporal cavity; zygomatic arch slender; palate contracted behind" (_Gray_). Jerdon's description is a very good one, but it must not be taken as an accurate one, spot for spot, for the animal varies somewhat in colour. Take, for instance, a description from Gray: "Pale _whitish grey_; back of neck and shoulders with _three_ streaks diverging from the vertebral line; back with two series of large square spots; the shoulders, sides, and legs with round black spots; an elongated spot on the middle of the front part of the back, between the square spots on the sides of the body."

SIZE.--Head and body, 16 inches; tail, 14 inches; height, 6 inches.

Our Indian animal is closely allied to the Malayan species, which was first described as _Felis_ and afterwards _Prionodon gracilis_.

It is mentioned in the English translation of Cuvier as the delundung, "a rare Javanese animal, of which there is only one species," but another was subsequently found by Mr. Hodgson in Nepal, and now a third has been discovered in Tena.s.serim. They are beautiful little creatures, with all the agility of cats, climbing and springing from branch to branch in pursuit of small mammals and birds, and I have no doubt it is a great enemy of the _Tupaiae_ and squirrels. It breeds in the hollows of trees. It is capable of being tamed, and according to several authors becomes very gentle and fond of being noticed.

Hodgson says it never utters any kind of sound. He fed his on raw meat.

NO. 226. PRIONODON MACULOSUS.

_The Spotted Linsang_.

HABITAT.--Tena.s.serim.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Prionodon maculosus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--"Upper part brownish-black, broken up by greyish-white bands, lower parts white; tail brownish-black, with seven white rings; tips whitish; two broad black bands run down each side of the upper part of the neck, between them is a narrow greyish-white band with a faint mesial dark streak somewhat interrupted, and pa.s.sing into two bands of elongate spots between the shoulders. The two broad dark bands pa.s.s into the dark patches on the back; on each side of these bands is a white rather wavy stripe, commencing at the ear, and continued along the neck above the shoulder and down the side to the thighs, becoming more irregular behind; below this again is a dark band somewhat broken up into spots in front, pa.s.sing over the shoulder and continued as a line of large spots along the side. The back is chiefly brownish-black, crossed by six narrow transverse whitish bands, the first five equidistant, the foremost communicating with the mesial neck band, and the hinder all uniting with the white band on the side, so as to break up the dark colour into large spots. There are small spots on the fore neck, lower portion of the sides, and outside of the limbs, the spots in the neck forming an imperfect gorget. The white rings on the tail are not much more than half the breadth of the dark rings; the last ring near the tip and the first white ring are narrower than the others; nose dark brown mixed with grey; a dark ring round each orbit, with a streak running back to below the ear, and another pa.s.sing up to the crown; forehead between and behind the eyes and in front of the ears and cheeks pale grey; ears rounded and clad with blackish hairs outside and near the margin inside, a few long pale hairs on the inner surface of the ear conch; whiskers long, extending to behind the ears, the upper brown, the lower entirely white; soles, except the pads, which are naked, covered with fine hair." The above careful description is by Mr. W. T. Blanford on specimens collected by Mr. Davison in Burmah. Mr. Davison lately showed me a beautiful specimen, which I should describe by a reverse process to Mr.

Blanford's, taking the light colour as the ground work, and stating it to be of a yellowish-white or pale buff, with broad black bands and blotches as above described, or in general terms broad black patches over the back, two longitudinal interrupted black bands along the neck and sides, with two lines of elongated spots above and below the lower band, and numerous small spots on the throat, chest and limbs.

SIZE.--Head and body, 18-1/4 inches; tail, 16 inches without the hair, 16-3/4 with it.

This is a larger animal than _P. pardicolor_, and is distinguished from it by its larger marking. The fur is beautifully soft and close.

From the richness of its colouring, the elegance of its shape, and the agility of its movements, it is one of the most beautiful and interesting of our smaller mammals.

NO. 227. PRIONODON GRACILIS.

_The Malayan Linsang_.

HABITAT.--Malacca, Siam, Sumatra, and Tena.s.serim.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur white, back with broad black cross-bands, sides of neck with a broad black streak continued along the sides of the body, confluent with the bands of the neck; back of neck with five parallel black streaks; tail with seven black and white streaks; a second streak, broken into spots, from the side of the neck to the haunches; legs with small black spots.