NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



behind the porcupines, which killed several of his 

 dogs at different times when they attempted to get 

 at the young jackals behind the porcupine's array 

 of formidable quills. 



Young jackals often baffle terrier dogs which are 

 sent into their burrows, by scratching a small side 

 burrow, and blocking up the entrance from the main 

 burrow by scraping dirt into the opening. The 

 dog follows the main burrow to the end, and fails 

 to detect the hidden puppies. If a hole contain- 

 ing puppies is found, and should the finder 

 return in a few hours, or the following day, to dig 

 them out, he will find the burrow deserted. The 

 watchful mother, from the neighbouring scrub, or 

 from behind a bush on the veld, has seen him find 

 the burrow, and the instant he disappeared from 

 view she raced off, and, seizing the pups in her mouth, 

 she carried them, one at a time, to some place of 

 security. Instances have been known of the parents 

 carrying a litter of five or six puppies a couple of 

 miles in a single night. The puppies must have 

 been carried, for they were too young to walk. 



Mr. Cloete, the well-known and oft-quoted ob- 

 server, gives the following interesting account of 

 the jackal's domestic arrangements : " The young 

 ones have almost always a ' back door,' by which 

 they can escape. This is just large enough for the 

 puppies to squeeze through, whatever their size ; 

 as a rule as soon as the terriers go down the earth 

 in which there are young ones, they fly out of one 



