The civet cat is principally a lowland animal, but has been recorded from the Nisqually entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park (Brockman, 1939: 70). Its rather generalized habits allow it to exist in areas that will not support larger carnivores or species with specialized food habits. It dwells in areas of thickets, brushy tangles or deep woods. In southeastern Washington it lives in rocky places as well as in river-side thickets of willow and cottonwood. Where conditions are suitable it ranges up into the Canadian Life-zone but is most abundant in the Transition Life-zone. The civet cats, in contrast to the striped skunks, are exclusively nocturnal. They are active the year around in western Washington but move about less in spells of unusually cold weather. We have taken them, however, in freezing weather. In spite of their abundance and wide range, civet cats are known to few persons other than trappers, perhaps because of their exclusively nocturnal habits. They do occasionally make people aware of themselves by taking up residence about old buildings. They are rather noisy at times. At the Tolt River, 10 miles southeast of Duvall, King County, we were asleep in an old building when a stamping noise from the next room awakened us. Investigation revealed a civet cat indulging in a series of short, stiff-legged hops. The forefeet were held slightly ahead and six or eight hops made. The animal would then relax, turn, and prance off in a new direction. The amount of noise made by its feet striking the board floor was surprising. The civet cat seemed to enjoy the noise it made, and the prancing may have been a method of playing. Trapped civet cats have been seen to make a similar but shorter series of hops at the trapper's approach, which might have been a warning. In the case described, however, the noise of the animal's actions was heard before the animal was seen and presumably when it was unaware of human presence. The civet cat also makes a drumming noise similar to the drumming of a wood rat. This was heard twice from wild animals that did not suspect an observer's presence, and once from a captive animal. While an animal was drumming I never had the opportunity to watch the actions closely enough to describe them. Apparently the drumming is done with the forefeet. The civet cat is said to be a good climber and to do some of its hunting in trees. One trapped civet cat climbed to the limit of a trap chain and wire in a low bush near Cottage Lake, King County, but, in Washington, I have no other evidence of this animal climbing. Near Cottage Lake, we took a civet cat in a trap set beneath 2 inches of water at the side of a stream. The animal had either been swimming or wading.