652 THE DOG. 



able from that of all other dogs. It is a shrill yell, no sooner 

 uttered by one than responded to by all within hearing, in 

 every conceivable variety of tone. The chorus begun, is 

 heard far and wide through the neighbouring wilds and 

 jungles, intermitted only to be raised again and again, louder 

 and louder, and almost banishing sleep from those who are 

 unused to it. The slightest note of one of their number suf- 

 fices to raise the wild cry all round, nay, even a note of music, 

 or a sound of the human voice. At the cantonments of Euro- 

 pean troops in the woody parts of India, where a great deal 

 of animal food, which the natives will not touch, is cast 

 about, the Jackals, after the sun is set, draw silently near, 

 and nothing betrays their presence. But should an alarm 

 be given, or one of their number, from any cause, be in- 

 cited to utter the signal cry, in an instant the sympathetic 

 chorus is raised, and responded to from the distant jungles. 

 At the charming period of the tropical day, when, the sun 

 being just sunk, a brief twilight ensues, scarcely giving warn- 

 ing of the coming darkness, an English gentleman with a very 

 young lady was walking in the gardens of his mansion. The 

 young lady, who knew that the gentleman sang, asked him 

 to give her some old-remembered tune. The first notes were 

 hardly uttered, when hundreds of Jackals, couched all around 

 unseen, answered with an appalling cry, which rung through 

 the neighbouring woods, as if thousands of wild beasts were 

 ready to fall upon the musician. But there is another cry 

 of the Jackal which is not thus responded to. This is uttered 

 by the solitary Jackal, who is watching the stealthy march 

 of the lio^i or the tiger. He follows the murderer at the 

 fitting distance, and utters from time to time his warning 

 cry. It is understood by those for whose safety it is uttered ; 

 and now, in place of the wild chorus, a silence like that of 

 the dead prevails around. These animals, it has been said, 

 are eminently social. They form their burrows near to one 

 another, and, congregating together, pursue their prey in 

 concert, hunting in packs like well-trained beagles. When 



