New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-16
THE MONGOOSE.
THE LITTLE ANIMAL HAS MADE THE
WEST INDIAN RATS NEST IN TREES.

|
who has Just returned from that Island, says
that the mongoose is at present found all over
! Porto Rico, from one end OF the lsland 10 the
! other from the sugar plantations along the coast
10 the tons OF the mountains Of the interior but
| is more abundant in the lowlands The amman
native home is in India, where he has great
reputation as a killer of snakes, and especially
the cobra He was brought by some enterpris-
ing individual from India to Jamaica for the
purpose of killing off the rats that caused great
| injury TO the sugar cane. About 1871 sugar
! PLANTER in Porto Rico who also was troubled by
rats conceived the idea OF bringing the mon
| goose into that island. on all OF the plantations
a number OF dogs and men were Kept busy XIII
| ing rats. Sometimes hundreds Of dollars OF
damage would be done TO the cane in single
night. The rats gnawcd into II Just above the
| ground so that fermentation would set in and
the cane would topple over and be ruined
Latimer & Co. undertook the Introduction or
! the mongoOse. They brought over three or four
pairs from Jamaica, and arranged to keep them
/ in captivity on an estate short distance out
side OF San Juan. They intended to breed them
until they had multiplied and then release them.
1t was not long. however, before the little ami
mails found the door TO their cage carelessly leit
open and escaped from the Enclosure. They null
tipIied very rapidly, and in the course Of few
years they were plentiful in that section They
| have since spread over the entire island.
The traveller nowadays them frequently
| gliding across the road from the hedge on one
side into that on the other. 1t is customary TO
| use for fences the ordinary barbed wire,
stretched on posts, and beside it TO plant spe-
| ces OF brumillia which has stiff leaves three
! inches wide and about four to five feet long,
with keen hooks half an inch or more in length
thickly distributed over the outer edge. with
their points sticking toward the top Of the leaf
AS each plant has from twenty to forty leaves.
growing UP somewhat like a century plant, and
as they soon multiply and additional plants
| spring up until the hedge becomes from fifteen
/ to forty feet wide, il can readily be seen that 1t
makes most complete barrier and at the same
| time the finest of covers for the mongoOse il IS
| practically impossible to drive it out or in any
| way eXtermirate il.
The sugar planters seem TO be fairly well sat
! isfed with the result of the Introduction OF the
/ mongOOse. and say that it has reduced the num-
Der Of rats so that now they do comparatively
, little damage. But most OF the other people 81
| the island especially the poor and those on
gagged in raising poultry, unqualified IN their
I condemnation OF the mongoose.
The rats have adapted themselves 10 the new
; element that has been brought into the contest
for life and now build their nests i'm the trees
They prefer the cocoanut palm when il can be
had. and in many places the trunks Of these
trees have been encrced by wide band OF TN
/ or sheet-irOn. which prevents the rats from
climbing Rats also live to some extent in other
trees, especially in the royal palm and occasion
ally in the matched roofs Of buildings
The closest relative to the mOngoose We have
in the United States is the weasel. The mon
goose is about twenty inches long. Of which
little less than half is tail has rather short legs,
nose little more pointed than that Of the
/ weasel ard is covered with a thick coat Of
coarse, rusty gray hair. 1t is called by the peo-
pie Of Porto Rico arda. which is the name
given in Mexico and the Southwest to the squir-
/ rel II is also known as the mongosta~
While introduced for the purpose Of killing
rats the mongoOse has shown a lively appetite
for poultry, and he's become pest 10 the ma
I tives. nearly all Of whom raise more or less
fowls The animal cats all kinds of small ami
mails living on the ground including spiders.
snakes and lizards. The island Of Nieques. of
the Of Porto Rico and belonging also 70
the United States, has had the mongoose much
shorter time. and the people there say that be-
fore the animal introduced snakes were
quite common. Now one is rarely seen. on the
island of Culebra. close by. there is no mongoose.
and snakes quite common.
The snakes OF Porto Rico and the adjacent ISL
ands include one small boa and one or two spc-
cies resembling our common garter snake None
Of them are poisonous II may BE- said that no
poisonous snakes arc found in any OF the islands
this side OF rt'nique.
While Porto Rico has an abundance Of big
centipedes and some very large spiders. their
bites seem to be less poisonous than those OF the
corresponding species in own Southwestern
States. There is a small scorpion found there,
however. whose sting is perhaps worse than the
bites Of either OF the others
Judging by the habits OF its species. the MON
goose lives in q nest in the hedge. although =
must say that | have never seen nest II IL
probable however that their nests lined
with soft grass and material Of that kind
| Wherever there Is q crcvice in the rocks conven-
| iently at hand they make their home. The
habits Of the mOngoosc similar 10 those OF
the weasel. 1t preys mostly at night. II is said
that in Jamaica the mOngoose has so largely ex-
| terminated the ground birds and other animals
that live insects that the ticks have Increased
| In number until they threaten to cut down the
numbers OF the mongoose But in Porto Rico
! there u no sign or the mOngooSe being troubled
| by ticks The pclt Of the monGoose has no COM
| piercial value, so far as / know. and could
/ ltarn that they were hunted to any extent u
may b. that natives who have suffered loss OF
/ chickens through the visits of the mOngoose re-
| taliatc by hunting them | am not aware that
| there is any law in Porto Rico prohibiting the
| killing Of the monSocse.