THE BLACK-BACKED JACKAL. 323 



Although not a brave animal individually, yet it will, when hard pressed, fight with 

 great ferocity, and inflict extremely painful and dangerous wounds with its long and 

 sharp teeth. It has a great dread of the civilized dog, but has more than once been 

 known to turn the tables on its pursuers, and to call the help of its comrades to its aid. 

 On one of these occasions two greyhounds had been sent in pursuit of a Jackal, 

 which immediately made for a rising ground covered with grass and small bushes. 

 Dogs and Jackal arrived at the spot almost simultaneously, when the Jackal gave a cry 

 of distress, which was immediately answered by the appearance of a small pack of 

 Jackals, which issued in every direction from the cover, and attacked the hounds. 

 The owner of the dogs was at the time impounded in thick mud, and could not reach 

 the spot in time to rescue his hounds from their furious enemies until they had been 

 most severely mangled. One was quite unable to walk, and was carried home by 

 bearers, and the other was so dreadfully bitten over his whole person that he appeared 

 to have been fired at with buck-shot. Both dogs ultimately recovered, but not until 

 the lapse of a long time. 



On another occasion, when a pack of hounds was hunting a Jackal, a very much 

 larger pack of Jackals came to the rescue, and in their turn attacked the hounds with 

 such vehemence that they were unable to take the field for many weeks afterwards. 

 So fierce were the assailants in their attack, that even when the hunters came to the 

 aid of their hounds the Jackals flew upon the horses, and were so persevering in their 

 onset that a rescue was not effected without considerable difficulty. If unmolested, the 

 Jackal is harmless enough, and will permit a human being to pass quite closely with- 

 out attempting to bite. 



The Jackal is tolerably susceptible of human influence, and if taken when very 

 young, or if born into captivity, can be brought to follow its master about like a dog, 

 and to obey his orders. If it should be made captive when it has once tasted a free 

 life, it behaves after the manner of the dingo, being shy, suspicious, and treacherous to- 

 wards those who may come unexpectedly within reach of its teeth. It is rather remark- 

 able that the animal loses its unpleasant odor in proportion to the length of its captivity. 

 The name of " aureus," or golden, is derived from the yellowish tinge of the Jackal's fur. 

 In size it rather exceeds a large fox, but its tail is not proportionately so long 'or so 

 bushy as the well-known " brush " of the fox. 



The BLACK-BACKED JACKAL is an inhabitant of Southern Africa, being especially 

 abundant about the Cape of Good Hope, from which circumstance it is sometimes 

 termed the Cape Jackal. In size it equals the common Jackal, but is easily distin- 

 guished from that animal by the black and white mottlings which are thickly spread 

 over its back, and give a peculiar richness to the coloring of its fur. Its habits are pre- 

 cisely the same as those of the common Jackal, and need not be separately described. 



It is a very cunning as well as audacious animal, and is extremely apt at extricating 

 itself from any dangerous situation into which it has ventured in search of prey. 



One of these animals had for several successive nights insinuated itself into a hen- 

 roost, in Pietermaritzberg, and borne away its inmates without being detected or 

 checked. The proprietor of the poultry finding that his fowls vanished nightly, and 

 not knowing the mode of their departure, vowed vengeance against the robber, who- 

 ever he might be, and fixed a spring-gun across the only opening that gave access to 

 the henhouse. In the course of the succeeding night the report of the gun gave notice 

 that the thief had been at his usual work, and the bereaved owner ran out towards the dis- 

 charged gun, hoping to find its charge lodged in the dead body of the marauder. How- 

 ever, the thief had made his escape, but had left behind him sure tokens of his punish- 

 ment in the shape of several heavy spots of blood that lay along the ground for some 

 little distance. Some hairs that were discovered in the cleft of a splintered bar, by 

 which the animal had passed, announced that a Jackal was the delinquent. 



In the morning the trail was followed up, but with little success, as it led across 

 some roads where so many footsteps were constantly passing that the blood-spots were 

 hopelessly destroyed, and the scent of the animal broken up by the trails of men and 

 cattle. The road that led to the plains was carefully examined, but no traces of the 



