COUSIN JACK 1 81 



The jackal is as carnivorous as the fox, and like 

 the fox has a sweet tooth, loving grapes and sugar- 

 canes. Every Master of Hounds in India knows that 

 the sugar-cane crops are a safe draw for a jackal. 

 Like the fox, too, the jackal makes a burrow or more 

 often uses one ready made, and there lays up its litter, 

 which varies in number from three to five. The 

 jackal, however, lives above ground except in the 

 breeding season, and it far more rarely goes to ground 

 when hunted than the English fox, while as to the 

 Indian fox, it is difficult to keep him above ground 

 for any length of time. The jackal is larger than the 

 English fox, stands somewhat higher on the legs, but 

 his brush is to that of Reynard as a shaving brush 

 is to a spoke brush, and is in fact, a very poor apology 

 for the once much-prized trophy of the home hunting 

 fields. But the jackal is an animal of great endurance 

 and can run before hounds for a long time. The 

 longest chase of a jackal I ever had lasted about 

 three hours and a half. I found my quarry about 

 7.30 A.M. and killed him a little before n A.M. 



The jackal, however, has certain advantages over 

 the fox when being hunted, in that hounds in India 

 are seldom in as good condition as in England. 

 Moreover, Northern India, in which my experience 

 lies, is not a good scenting country. Luckily the 



