156 FLESH-EATERS OF THE LAND 



choice, whereas the Jackal prefers it, and resorts even to 

 graves and cemeteries to satisfy its ghoulish taste. We read 

 that Samson ' went and caught three hundred foxes and 

 took firebrands/ which he tied to the animals for the pur- 

 pose of burning the cornfields of the Philistines. The 

 difficulty of procuring three hundred foxes would be very 

 great, since the animal is not gregarious and would require 

 to be captured singly, whereas Jackals might be captured in 

 a drove. 



The Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas) of South 

 Africa is the handsomest of its race, having its back adorned 

 with black, broken with silvery hairs and tufts. During the 

 South African War the Jackals, like the leopards, very 

 greatly increased, owing to there being no men on the farms 

 to keep down their numbers. This animal is particularly 

 destructive to sheep and lambs, leading to Government 

 rewards for its capture, viz., seven shillings and sixpence 

 per head. 



In India and South Africa sportsmen often regularly hunt 

 the Jackal in the same manner as the fox is chased in 

 England. The animal can be tamed with ease, and exhibits 

 most of the manners of the dog, even to the wagging of the 

 tail when pleased. In a few generations it could be com- 

 pletely domesticated and rendered capable of useful service 

 to man. 



FOX (Cam's vulpes). 

 Coloured Plate VIII. Fig. 4. 



Of the common Fox, our own British animal, the terror 

 of the farmyard from its voracity and the favourite object 

 of the chase in England, almost endless interesting informa- 

 tion might be afforded. If the animal had not been pre- 

 served for purposes of sport, in the British Isles it would 

 long ago have been as extinct as the wolf. With slight 

 variations in size and strength and colour, the common Fox 

 is found throughout Europe, Northern and Western Asia, 

 and Northern Africa ; in India and North America are 

 various allied species. 



The British Fox, as represented in the coloured plate, is 



