Life-History of the Jackal. 1^3^ 



halts being made to investigate. The distance travelled most likely 

 depends upon the relation of food supply and danger to itself or its| 

 young, or to circumstances necessitating its migration to " pastures 

 new." When belated in the morning it travels faster than its wont, 

 and if overtaken by daj'light takes refuge in the nearest cover ; some 

 state that after a heavy meal, its pace in returning is slower. When 

 pursued it is exceedingly fast and a good dog is needed to course it ; 

 ii is able to run down hares and the smaller antelopes, and a case is 

 recorded where one ran down a steenbok {EJiaphiceros campestris) at 

 9 a.m. close to a homestead. . 



The Call of the Jackal. 



Questions were asked as to the call of jackals and its significance. 

 Many agreed that the calls have a significance, but find it impossible 

 to. describe them. There is a concurrence of opinion that the long- 

 drawn howls are the assembly call, best described as " nyah-h-h-h-h, 

 yah-yah, yah-yah ' ' ; when hunting they utter a short, sharp howl, 

 described as " yah yah yah " ; when alarmed they utter a yelp like a 

 dog, and when hard-pressed by dogs a grunting sound ; a grunting 

 sound was also made by a jackal bitch that chased a writer's dog. 

 According to one writer: — "The mating call is rather pretty, and 

 sounds something like a shrill, hearty laugh from the female, the 

 male giving several long-drawn howls of a deep throaty character." 

 When females are disturbed in the holes with their young they growl 

 at the intruder. One writer has seen three jackals walking together 

 just after sunset, and one (perhaps different ones alternately) setting- 

 up a howl at intervals; and on another occasion a single jackal was 

 seen by him standing near a trap after sunrise, and uttering a single 

 drawn-out howl at intervals of about two or three minutes. Another 

 writer states: — "An observant man knows when ho hears jackals 

 calling at about sunset on two or three evenings in succession at the 

 same place that tlieir new family has arrived ; his business is then to 

 examine the footprints to find if the jackals are both there, and then 

 track them to the nursery." 



Diet of Jackals. 



While essentially carnivorous in its habits, the jackal by no 

 means confines itself to meat. The majority of writers mention rats, 

 mice, birds, hares, young springhares, and buck, besides small stock 

 of the farmers ; but a complete list of its menu as recorded besides 

 these is as follows: watermelons, herbs, berries of the "blauwbos," 

 " kruisbesje," "rasyn," " beerkassie," and " witgat " ; cultivated 

 fruit, grapes, raisins, prickly pears ; dassies, meerkats, tortoises, 

 lizards (never snakes or scorpions), fish, earth Avorms, locusts, flying 

 ants, insects; dead animals, such as cattle, horses, donkeys, a dead 

 native, and human excrement; korhaans, guineafowls, partridges, 

 young ostriches, ostrich eggs, and other birds' eggs, fowls, geese, and 

 turkeys. 



Mode of Attack. 



There is a general concurrence of opinion that the jackal is too 

 cowardly to attack a sheep facing it, and ewes have been known to 

 protect their Inmbs by doing so. When a sheep persists in facing the 



