ungle above camp but without success. There were many sambur
tracks in the clearings, but we realized at once that it was going to be
difficult to get deer because of the dense cover; the open places were so
few and small that a sambur had every chance to break through without
giving a shot.

Nearly all the beaters carried guns. The "Dying Rabbit" was armed with a
.45-caliber bolt action rifle into which he had managed to fit a .303 shell
and several of the men had Winchester carbines, model 1875. The guns had
all been brought from Burma and most were without ammunition, but each man
had an assortment of different cartridges and used whichever he could force
into his rifle.

The men worked splendidly under the direction of the "Dying Rabbit." On the
second day they put up a sambur which ran within a hundred feet of us but
was absolutely invisible in the high grass. When we returned to camp we
found that a civet (_Viverra_) had walked past our tent and begun to eat
the scraps about the cook box, regardless of the shouts of the _mafus_ and
servants who were imploring Heller to bring his gun. After considerable
difficulty they persuaded him that there really was some cause for their
excitement and he shot the animal. It was probably ill, for its flesh was
dry and yellow, but the skin was in excellent condition.

Civets belong to the family _Viverridae_ and are found only in Asia and
Africa. Although they resemble cats superficially they are not directly
related to them and their claws are only partly retractile. They are very
beautiful animals with a grayish body spotted with black, a ringed tail,
and a black and white striped pointed head. A scent gland near the base of
the tail secretes a strong musk-like odor which, although penetrating, is
not particularly disagreeable. The animals move about chiefly in the early
morning and evening and at night and prey upon birds, eggs, small mammals,
fish, and frogs. One which we caught and photographed had a curious habit
of raising the hair on the middle of its back from the neck to the tail
whenever it was angry or frightened.

Although there were no houses within half a mile of camp we were surprised
on our first night to hear cocks crowing in the jungle. The note was like
that of the ordinary barnyard bird, except that it ended somewhat more
abruptly. The next morning we discovered Chanticleer and all his harem in a
deserted rice field, and he flew toward the jungle in a flas