240 JOUKNAL or THE ]DePAIITMENT OF AGRICULTURE. SePT., 1922. 



jackal, the latter will endeavour to scare the former into flight by 

 making sham charges, running round it, and howling; and if the 

 sheep is foolish enough to bolt, the jackal instantly runs it down, and 

 fastens its teeth in the neck behind the ear on one side, hanging on 

 until the sheep is killed. To show its cowardly nature, several writers 

 record where lambs have mistaken a jackal for their mother, and have 

 run towards it, the jackal became so alarmed that it turned tail and 

 bolted, in one case into an antbear hole, where it was discovered by 

 the herd and killed. Old rams of sheep and goats are said to be 

 seldom attacked, and full-grown sheep not often hj a single jackal. 

 Lambs are naturally more often victims than adult sheep, and young 

 calves and pigs also suffer when not protected. Young jackals often 

 attack sheep from the back, missing tails and wounded hindquarters 

 being often seen in consequence. It seems most usual for the jackal 

 to hunt in pairs, though this is by no means an invariable rule, single 

 (usually old and cunning) ones often doing considerable damage, and 

 sometimes more than two combining to hunt, as many as six having 

 been observed doing so. At the time when the young must be provided 

 for, the parents are much bolder, and when the young accompany 

 their parents many sheep are often destroyed, some being killed and 

 more injured, seemingly with the object of instructing the young, or 

 the young themselves being less adept. The love of killing quite 

 commonly results in a large number of sheep being killed or injured 

 even by single adult jackals. The same tactics as with sheep are 

 adopted in hunting the smaller antelopes; hares are also run down, 

 but less agile creatures are first stalked and then pounced upon. 

 Birds are caught at night while sleeping or on their nests on the 

 ground, and in the event of their rising they are snapped in flight. 

 Fowls are taken from the roosts on rare occasions when the jackal is 

 bold enough to venture near the homesteads. Cases are recorded 

 where a single jackal has waited outside a patch of bush, while others 

 have driven out animals hiding in it. One writer records that he once 

 observed a jackal busy digging at a mouse hole, while others stood 

 about ready to catch the mice as they emerged, which mice usually 

 do when the smaller carnivores attempt to dig them out. Rats and 

 mice are said to be quite commonly dug out of their holes, though 

 doubtless many more are captured at night on the surface. Ostrich 

 eggs are broken by the jackal kicking them backwards against a 

 stone ; or otherwise an egg is pushed to the edge of the nest and 

 kicked backwards against the other eggs until one may break; an 

 ostrich nest which has been robbed by jackals in the latter case 

 usually has one egg left on that account. 



There is a general concurrence of opinion that the jackal will not 

 enter kraals under normal conditions, the exceptions being where it 

 is made bolder by hunger, the kraals some distance from human 

 habitations and not protected by dogs, and the kraals insecurely built 

 of branches or wire. Sometimes an old individual may cultivate the 

 habit of raiding kraals from continued success, and then does much 

 damage by returning at intervals. Instances are known where it has 

 endeavoured to get into kraals by digging under the fence after 

 failing to find a weak place in its construction. Some writers etate 

 that it will spring over a kraal wall, another that it will never attempt 

 to enter a kraal, even if the gate be left open ; but no doubt thesoi 

 occurrences are a matter of circumstance g-overned bv the height of 



