CAPE JERBOA. 



than the lower. The general colour of the ani- 

 mal is a pale ferruginous above, and pale ash- 

 colour beneath. The nose is black and bare to 

 some little distance up the front : the ears large : 

 the whiskers long and black : the tail is of the same 

 colour with the body for about half its length ; 

 the remainder blackish, and extremely villous or 

 full of hair. It is an animal of great strength 

 and activity, and will spring to the distance of 

 twenty or thirty feet at once. "\Vhen eating, it 

 sits upright in the manner of a squirrel. It bur- 

 rows in the ground, like the smaller kind of Jer- 

 boas, with great ease and expedition ; having 

 very strong and long claws, five in number, on the 

 fore feet : those on the hind feet are rather short, 

 and are four in number. 



This animal is among the late accessions to Na- 

 tural History. It seems to have been first figured 

 in the miscellaneous plates of Mr. Millar. A 

 figure also occurs in the sixth supplemental vo- 

 lume of the Count de Button's History of Qua- 

 drupeds. It is called by the Dutch colonists, at 

 the Cape, by the name of Sprin gen Haas or Jump- 

 ing Hare. 



