of 



353 



Africa. Its size is about that of a fox, but 

 longer in the legs ; its colour a light orange- 

 yellow or yellowish gray above, and whitish 

 below, with dark shades about the back : the 



tail hangs straight, is rather bushy, and ge- 

 nerally black at the tip : the ears are very 

 ruddy, and the muzzle pointed. The voice 

 of the Jackal is described as peculiarly hi- 

 deous, consisting of an indistinct bark and a 

 piteous howl. It resides in woods, holes, and 

 rocky places ; and preys indiscriminately 

 on all the weaker animals, committing ra- 

 vages among flocks, in the poultry-yard, 

 &c., though it seldom ventures abroad till 

 nightfall. Jackals frequently go in great 

 troops to hunt their prey, and by their dread 

 ful yellings alarm and put to flight deer, an- 

 telopes, and other timid quadrupeds ; while 

 the Lion, instinctively attending to the cla- 

 mour, is said to follow till the Jackals have 

 hunted down the prey, and, having satiated 

 himself on the spoil, leaves only the scanty 

 remains to the famished hunters. Hence 

 the Jackal has been popularly called " the 

 lion's provider." Some say that the Jackal 

 has a natural propensity to follow mankind, 

 instead of flying from him, like the Wolf 

 and the Fox : also that the whelp is readily 

 tamed, and, when grown up, assumes all the 

 habits of the domestic Dog : nay, it is well 

 known that the Jackal interbreeds with the 

 common dog ; its period of gestation is the 

 same, and the hybrid progeny is fertile. We 

 should, however, observe, that between the 

 Jackal and the Dog there exists such an 

 irreconcileable antipathy, that they never 

 meet without a combat. 



JACKDAW, or DAW. (Coryus mrnie- 

 dula.) A well-known English bird, consi- 

 derably less than the Rook, being about 

 thirteen inches in length, and twenty-eisht 

 in breadth. The bill and legs are black ; 

 the claws strong and hooked ; eyes white ; 

 the hinder part of the head and neck is sil- 

 very gray ; the rest of the plumage is of a 

 fine glossy blue-black above, beneath dusky. 

 Jackdaws frequent church steeples, old 

 towers, and ruins, in flocks, where they build 

 their nests : the female lays five or six eggs, 

 paler and smaller than those of the crow. 

 They are easily tamed, and may be taught, 

 like the magpie, &c., to imitate human ar- 

 ticulation : they have also the mischievous 

 faculty of stealing and hiding money, spoons, 

 or other glittering and metallic substances. 

 They feed on insects, grain, fruit, small pieces 

 of flesh, eggs, &c. They remain in this coun- 

 try during the whole year ; but in France, 

 Germany, and other parts of the Continent, 

 they are migratory. From an article, headed 

 " Habits of the Jackdaw," in Mr. Waterton's 



Essays, we glean the folio wing observations : 

 " Though the Jackdaw makes use of the 

 same kind of materials for building as those 

 which are found in the nest of the rook ; 

 though it is, to all appearance, quite as hardy 

 a bird ; and though it passes the night, ex- 

 posed to the chilling cold and rains of winter, 

 on the leafless branches of the lofty elm ; 

 still, when the period for incubation arrives, 

 it bids farewell to those exposed heights, 

 where the rook remains to hatch its young, 

 and betakes itself to the shelter which is 

 afforded in the holes of steeples, towers, and 

 trees. Perhaps there is no instance in the 

 annals of ornithology which tells of the 

 Jackdaw ever building its nest in the open 

 air. Wishing to try whether these two con- 

 geners could not be induced to continue the 

 year throughout in that bond of society 

 which, I had observed, was only broken 

 during incubation, I made a commodious 

 cavity in an aged elm, just at the place where 

 it had lost a mighty limb, some forty years 

 ago, in a tremendous gale of wind which 

 laid prostrate some of the finest trees in this 

 part of Yorkshire. At the approach of breed- 

 ing-time, a pair of Jackdaws took possession 

 of it, and reared their young in shelter ; 

 while the rooks performed a similar duty on 

 the top of the same tree, exposed to all the 

 rigours of an English spring. This success 

 induced me to appropriate other conveniences 

 for the incubation of the Jackdaw ; and I 

 have now the satisfaction to see an uninter- 

 rupted fellowship exist, the year throughout, 

 between the Jackdaw and the Rook." 



JAGUAR, or OUNCE. (Felis onco.) A fierce 

 and destructive animal of the feline kind, 

 partaking of the qualities and habits of the 

 Tiger : it is a native of the hotter parts of 

 South America, and from its being the most 

 formidable quadruped there, is sometimes 

 called the tiger or panther of the New World. 

 It is as large as a wolf, and lives solely on 

 prey. Its ground colour is a pale brownish 

 "ow, variegated on the upper parts of the 



JiOUAR. (FE1.1S ONCA.) 



body with streaks and irregular oblong spots 

 of black ; the top of the back being marked 

 with long uninterrupted stripes, and the 

 sides with rows of regular open marks : the 

 thighs and legs are marked with full black 

 spots ; the breast and belly are whitish ; the 

 tail not so long as the body ; the upper part 

 irregularly niarked with large black spots, 

 the lower with smaller ones. It swims and 

 climbs with ease : and preys not only on the 

 larger domestic quadrupeds, and on smaller 



