THE BLACK-BACKED JACKAL. 323 
Although not a brave animal individually, yet it will, when hard pressed, fight with 
oreat ferocity, and inflict extremely painful and dangerous wounds with its long and sharp 
teeth. It has a great dread of the civilized dog, but has more than once been known to 
turn the tables on its pursuers, and to call the help of its comrades to its aid. On one of 
these occasions two greyhounds had been sent in pursuit of a Jackal, which immediately 
made for a rising ground covered with grass and small bushes. Dogs and Jackal arrived 
at the spot almost simultaneously, when the Jackal gave a cry of distress, which was 
immediately answered by the appearance of a small pack of Jackals, which issued in 
every direction from the cover, and attacked the hounds. The owner of the dogs was at 
the time impounded in thick mud, and could not reach the spot in time to rescue his 
hounds from their furious enemies until they had been most severely mangled. One was 
quite unable to walk, and was carried home by bearers, and the other was so dreadfully 
bitten over his whole person that he appeared to have been fired at with buck-shot. 
Both dogs ultimately recovered, but not until the lapse of a long time. 
On another occasion, when a pack of hounds was hunting a Jackal, a very much 
larger pack of Jackals came to the rescue, and in their turn attacked the hounds with 
such vehemence that they were unable to take the field for many weeks afterwards. So 
fierce were the assailants in their attack, that even when the hunters came to the aid of 
their hounds the Jackals flew upon the horses, and were so persevering in their onset 
that a rescue was not effected without considerable difficulty. If unmolested, the Jackal 
is harmless enough, and will permit a human being to pass quite closely without 
attempting to bite. 
The Jackal is tolerably susceptible of human influence, and if taken when very young, 
or if born into captivity, can be brought to follow its master about like a dog, and to obey 
his orders. If it should be made captive when it has once tasted a free life, it behaves 
after the manner of the dingo, being shy, suspicious, and treacherous towards those who 
may come unexpectedly within reach of its teeth. It is rather remarkable that the 
animal loses its unpleasant odour in proportion to the length of its captivity. The name 
of “aureus,” or golden, is derived from the yellowish tinge of the Jackal’s fur. In size it 
rather exceeds a large fox, but its tail is not proportionately so long or so bushy as the 
well-known “brush” of the fox. 
The BLACK-BACKED JACKAL is an inhabitant of Southern Africa, being especially 
abundant about the Cape of Good Hope, from which circumstance it is sometimes termed 
the Cape Jackal. In size it equals the common Jackal, but is easily distinguished from 
that animal by the black and white mottlings which are thickly spread over its hack, and 
give a peculiar richness to the colouring of its fur. Its habits are precisely the same as 
those of the common Jackal, and need not be separately described. 
It is a very cunning as well as audacious animal, and is extremely apt at extricating 
itself from any dangerous situation into which it has ventured in search of prey. 
One of these animals had for several successive nights insinuated itself into a hen- 
roost, in Pietermaritzberg, and bone away its inmates without being detected or checked. 
The proprietor of the poultry finding that his fowls vanished nightly, and not knowing 
the mode of their departure, vowed vengeance against the robber, whoever he might be, 
and fixed a spring-eun across the only opening that gave access to the henhouse. In the 
course of the succeeding night the report of the gun gave notice that the thief had been 
at his usual work, and the bereaved owner van out towards the discharged gun, hoping to 
find its charge lodged in the dead body of the marauder. However, the thief had made 
his escape, but had left behind him sure tokens of his punishment in the shape of several 
heavy spots of blood that lay along the ground for some little distance. Some hairs that 
were discovered in the cleft of a splintered bar, by which the animal had passed, 
announced that a Jackal was the delinquent. 
In the morning the trail was followed up, but with little suecess, as it led across some 
roads where so many footsteps were constantly passing that the blood-spots were 
hopelessly destroyed, and the scent of the animal broken up by the trails of men and 
cattle. The road that led to the plains was carefully examined, but no traces of the 
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