106 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



The note of this Jackal is a wailing laugh "Wa-ah wah, wah, 

 wah " ; it also utters a cackling sound when attacked. Besides being 

 the familiar species in South Africa, it ranges north up to Abyssinia. 

 It is not uncommon in captivity; many specimens have been ex- 

 hibited in the London Zoological Gardens, where some have been 

 bred. A number are at the time of writing thriving in a small out- 

 door enclosure with an earth-covered mound provided with burrows, 

 and bear the cold as well as the common Foxes similarly housed 

 alongside. 



THE INDIAN JACKAL 



(Cants aureus) 



THIS is the best known of the Jackals, but it is a far less handsome 

 creature than the Black-backed, being less slender and elegant in form, 

 with a much shorter brush. Its colour also is simply brown, grizzled 

 with black above. 



In India this is a most familiar creature, hanging about the habi- 

 tations of man, in hope of picking up any garbage it can find, or 

 making prey of some kid or fowl left unsecured in the evening. It is 

 found even in populous towns, taking refuge during the day in the 

 drains ; I have had one bolted from such a retreat under my front 

 doorway in Calcutta. At night it goes forth on its rounds, emitting 

 at times an abominable howl, which is calculated to rouse one from 

 the soundest sleep. The cry is commonly rendered as " Dead Hindoo I 

 where, where ? where, where ? " and I can vouch for the accuracy of the 

 last syllables, at all events ; the first crash of discord is what wakes 

 one up ! 



It is said that not only dead Hindoos, but their live babies, may 

 fall victims to this stealthy cowardly brute : and he is a real danger 

 owing to the fact that he contracts, and of course communicates, 

 hydrophobia. His chief use is to provide sport for the Anglo-Indian 

 hunting community, the "Jack" taking the same place among them 

 as the Fox does in England. A tame Jackal I saw in India had all the 



