JACKALS. 505 



individual hairs of the body are ringed with black and white or red and white, 

 so as to produce a speckled appearance in the fur. The under-parts of the body 

 and the inner sides of the limbs are nearly white, the ears and part of the face 

 being yellowish brown. This striking coloration occurs, however, only in the 

 .adult condition, the fur of the young being a uniform dusky brown. The dark 

 band on the neck so often found in the common jackal is absent. The ears are 

 very long. 



The black-backed jackal was obtained by Mr. Blanford in Abyssinia, but not 





BLACK-BACKED JACKAL (f nat. size). 



:at such high elevations as the common species. The northerly limit of this jackal 

 is Middle Nubia, from whence its range extends along the East Coast of Africa to 

 the Cape, although there are many places in this tract of country where it is 

 apparently absent. In South Africa it extends across the continent, and up the 

 western side as far as Mossamedes, but it is unknown in the Congo district. This 

 jackal occurs both in the open country and in bush jungle. In the sandy regions 

 on the shores of the Red Sea it is to be found frequently in the small thickets 

 covering the banks of the ravines, which swarm with hares and pangolins, upon 

 which the jackal feeds. At night it visits the villages of the natives, and in 

 Somaliland it is stated to bite off the fat tails of the sheep. In the Sudan it lives 

 chiefly upon the smaller antelopes, mice, jerboas, and other Rodents. In South 



