THE JERBOA. 



317 



Singular motions Hunted by greyhounds. 



straight line ; but run first to one side, and then 

 to the other, till they find either their own bur- 

 row, or some adjacent one. In leaping, they 

 bear their tails stretched out : but in standing or 

 walking, they carry them in the form of the let- 

 ter S; the lower part touching the ground, sa 

 that it seems a director of their motions. When 

 surprised, they will sometimes go on all fours ; 

 but they soon recover their attitude of standing 

 on their hind-legs. When undisturbed, they use 

 the former posture ; then rise erect, listen, and 

 hop about like a bird. In digging they drop on 

 their fore-legs ; but in eating, they generally sit 

 up like a squirrel. 



In the kingdom of Tripoli, in Africa, the Arabs 

 teach their greyhounds to hunt the antelope, by 

 previously instructing them to catch jerboas: 

 and such is the agility of these little creatures, 

 that Mr. Bruce tells us he has often seen, in a 

 large court-yard or inclosure, the grey-hound 

 employed a quarter of an hour before he could 

 kill his diminutive adversary; and had not the 

 dog been well trained, so as to make use of his 

 feet as well as his teeth, he might have killed 

 two antelopes in the time of killing one jerboa. 



The Arabs have the art of catching them alive, 

 by stopping up the outlets to the different galle- 

 ries belonging to their colonies, one excepted, 

 through which they force them out. They may 

 be easily tamed, but it is necessary that they 

 should be kept warm. They are so susceptible 



