148 Tin: TRIE FKNNEC. 



Algiers, and that Skioklcbrand had possessed a figure of the animal 

 many years before, and had been vainly pcrsnadcd to i)nbiish it in the 

 Swedish Transactions, previously to his paper of 1777, to which be 

 expressly refers. This statement and reference appear to have 

 curiously irritated Bruce, whose rcntarks nmy remind us rather of a 

 literary dispute of the si\teenth century than of a scientilic discussion 

 of the eighteenth ! But, according to the rules of modern science, 

 however long Mr. Skinldebrand may have possessed a drawing of the 

 animal, such possession, or conversations respecting it, could give him 

 no claim to priority over Bruce, seeing that a figure and notice were 

 first pnlilislud to the world, in Bruee's name, by HuHon. 



But Buflon anil Bruce strangely misa|)prehended the nature of the 

 animal, since BulTon (|tiotis Brute as saying: " il parait tenir de plus 

 ])res a I'ecureuil." 



The true rennec is pt'ihaps the most attractive in aspect of all the 

 wild Canidte, and it becomes exceedingly tame and gentle in captivity. 

 No less thiin five individuals have lived in captivity in our ZcMilogical 

 (jardens. Of the specimens in the British Museum, the one we have 

 selected for representation in our Plate XX.Wl. is one from which 

 the skull has been extracted, which we have also had drawn. 



l?rucc strangely represents the Fennec as an arboreal animal, build- 

 ing its nest in a tne, an t rmr which probably arose through infor- 

 mation received by him respecting some other animal to which his 

 informant had understood him to refer. As a result of his own 

 observation of a specimen in captivity he says : — "Tliougli his favourite 

 food seemed to be dates or any sweet fruit, yet I observed he was very 

 fond of eggs ; pigeons' eggs and small birds' eggs were first brought 

 him, which he devoured with great avidity ; but he did not seem to 

 know how to manage the egg of a hen, but when broken for him, he 

 ate it with the same voracity as the others. When he was hungry he 

 would cat bread, especially with honey or sugar. It was very observ- 

 able that a bird, whether confined in a cage near him or flying across 

 the room, engrossed his whole attention. lie followed it with his eyes 

 wherever it went, nor was he at this time to be diverted by placing 

 biscuit before him, and it was obvious, by the great interest he seemed 



