46 THE BLACK-BACKED JACKAL. 



1867-68, occasionally met with examples of C. mesomelas in the pass 

 between Komayli and Senafe, and much more frequently about the base 

 of the hills west of Massowa, and on the Anseba. He also tells us * 

 that at least on one occasion Jackals of this species were met with in the 

 immediate vicinity of a lion, attention having been called to the place 

 where that formidable beast lay hidden by the peculiar motions of the 

 Jackals. As they walked slowly and warily away from his vicinity, 

 they constantly directed their glances towards the bush which concealed 

 him. 



Mr. Blanford did not find the Black-backed Jackal in the highlands 

 of Abyssinia (that is, at an elevation above 5000 feet) ; but met with 

 numerous individuals of the common Jackal of the country, which, as 

 before said, he regards as being C. variegates of Riippell. 



The colour of the young is a uniform dusky brown. The adult is 

 always brightly coloured, but the sharpness of the distinction between 

 the back and the sides, and the extent and intensity of the black 

 colour of the back vary considerably. The hairs of the body are all, 

 or almost all, annulated, and each is white a considerable part of its 

 extent, as well as black and yellow. Thus the superficial aspect of 

 different parts of the body is apt to differ, and present sometimes 

 nearly black, sometimes nearly white, patches of colour. The black 

 patch on the back is widest over the shoulders, then narrowing back- 

 wards. The sides of the body are red. The limbs and proximal part 

 of the tail are reddish yellow or yellowish red ; the end of the tail is 

 black. The underpart of the lower jaw, chest, belly, and inner side of 

 the limbs are white or whitish. The back of the ears are light yellowish 

 brown, well clothed with hair without and within. 



It seems to me most probable that the Jackal noticed by Dr. T. 

 Noack f under the name C. Uagenbeckii is a form of C. mesomelas in 

 which the hairs of the back are somewhat longer than usual. Species 

 have been proposed by Hemprich and Ehrenberg under the names 

 lupaster, sacer, and riparius, but they are so slightly characterized 



* Op. cit. p. 238. 



t See Zoologische Garten, xxvii. Jahrgang (1886), p. 233. 



