270 COMMON BEASTS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



death, but no one who has ever experienced the 

 horrors attending the death of a rat beneath the 

 flooring of a room would dream of running any 

 risk of setting up a cemetery of jackals in the 

 basement of his house, where the complicated 

 system of ventilating channels consists of tunnels 

 along which no dogs of any considerable size can 

 make their way. If small dogs be allowed to enter, 

 as they are only too anxious to do, there is not 

 only a risk of their coming to grief in encounters 

 with the intruders, but also no small chance of their 

 losing their way in the labyrinth. The latter mishap 

 once overtook a favourite terrier of mine when she 

 pursued a cat who had taken refuge below the 

 house, and she was only in the end recovered by 

 dint of the destruction of an intact grating that 

 closed an opening to which she had made her way 

 in the course of her wanderings. 



Where they are allowed to feed unmolested at 

 particular places, jackals often become very bold, 

 and may be seen at the sides of suburban roads 

 feeding, in the company of pariah dogs and cats, on 

 the contents of heaps of rubbish that lie awaiting 

 the visits of the scavengers' carts. These assemblies 

 are usually quite peaceful, but now and then the 

 dogs and jackals will wrangle and scuffle over the 

 possession of some specially attractive treasure. As 

 a rule the jackals take no notice of any one who may 

 pass along the road, but, should he halt to watch 



