THE ICHNEUMON, OR EGYPTIAN MANGOUSTE, OR PHARAOH’S RAT. (Herpestes Ichneumon.)
This animal bears a close resemblance to the weasel tribe, both in form and habits. From the tip of the nose to the root of the tail, it is about eighteen inches in length. At the base, the tail is very thick, tapering gradually towards the point, which is slightly tufted. It has a long, active body, short legs, lively and piercing eyes, and a pointed nose; the hair is rough and bristly, of a pale reddish grey.
The Ichneumon is celebrated in the mythology of ancient Egypt, where it has long been domesticated, and where it was ranked amongst the divinities, on account of its great utility in destroying serpents, snakes, rats, mice, and other vermin: it is also fond of crocodiles’ eggs, which it digs out of the sand where they have been deposited. It is a very fierce, though small animal, and will fight with dogs, foxes, and even jackals, with great fury. It will not breed in confinement, but may be easily tamed when taken young.
The following particulars are related by M. D’Obsonville, in his Essays on the Nature of various foreign Animals:—“I had an Ichneumon very young, which I brought up. I fed it at first with milk, and afterward with baked meat mixed with rice. It soon became even tamer than a cat; for it came when called, and followed me, though at liberty, in the country. One day I brought this animal a small water-serpent alive, being desirous to know how far his instinct would carry him against a being with which he was as yet totally unacquainted. His first emotion seemed to be astonishment mixed with anger, for his hair became erect; but in an instant he slipped behind the reptile, and with remarkable swiftness and agility leaped upon its head, seized it, and crushed it between his teeth. This essay, and new food, seemed to have awakened in him his innate and destructive voracity, which till then had given way to the gentleness he had acquired from education. 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 unmolested and unregarded: but a few days after, when he found himself alone, he strangled them every one, ate a little, and, as it appeared, drank the blood of two.”
The Moongus (Herpestes griseus) and the Garangan (Herpestes Javanicus) are eastern species of Ichneumons; the former inhabits India, and the latter the island of Java. Like the Egyptian Ichneumon, they are great enemies of snakes and other reptiles, and also destroy rats, but unfortunately they often commit great havoc among poultry.
The mode in which the Ichneumon seizes a serpent is thus described by Lucan in his Pharsalia:—
“Thus oft the Ichneumon, on the banks of Nile,
Invades the deadly aspic by a wile;
While artfully his slender tail is played,
The serpent darts upon the dancing shade,
Then turning on the foe with swift surprise,
Full on the throat the nimble traitor flies,
And in his grasp the panting serpent dies.”