These are small animals found in the warmest parts of Africa and Asia. They have a low body, but are very rapid in their movements, and their legs are so short, they have the appearance of crawling rapidly along the ground instead of running. Their tail is long and thick at the root, and their skin is silky and marked with colored rings.
The Mangousts make their home in marshy places where there are plenty of Reptiles. They prefer these to any other food, although they attack small animals and Birds. They also search for the eggs of Reptiles, and such Birds as build on the ground. They sometimes manage to get into poultry yards, when, like the Ferrets and Weasels, they kill all that can be found, only eating their brains and drinking their blood.
THE GENETS.
GENETS.
The Genets are handsomer little animals than others of this family. Their silky fur, speckled with black spots on a fawn-colored ground, has a very pretty appearance, and is an object of considerable trade.
The Common Genet is found in the south of France and Spain, and throughout the African Continent, and makes its home in low grounds near the rivers. The claws of the Genets are retractile, that is, capable of being drawn back, like those of the Cat. These animals are very successful in hunting Rats and Mice, and they also climb trees and hunt for young Birds.
AMPHIBIOUS CARNIVORA.
The Seals, Walruses, Sea-Elephants and Sea-Lions, etc., are grouped in a family known as the Amphibious Carnivora—or the flesh-eating animals that live both on the land and in the water. Some Naturalists object to this classification, and say that the word Amphibia should only be applied to the Batrachians—like the Frogs and the Reptiles that can breath either in the water by means of gills, or in the air by means of lungs.
But this expression has been altered from its true meaning, and what are now called Amphibia, are the animals like the Seals, etc., which are organized for living in the water, but which can, with difficulty move about on the land.