56 CATALOGUE. 



appears to hide himself in the most opaque recesses. Such is the 

 caution with which the kuttauss acts by night, that his depredations 

 are ordinarily attributed to jackals, &c. Being, from his size, which is 

 equal to that of a full-grown English fox, able to bear away a sub- 

 stantial booty, he is also capable of making a powerful resistance, and, 

 being familiar to trees, into which he can ascend with facility, it is not 

 a very easy thing to overcome him. His bite is very sharp ; and such 

 is the strength of his jaws, that sometimes he is found to snap the legs 

 of such dogs as incautiously subject their limbs to his powers. Like 

 the camel, he has a very uncouth trick of keeping a fast hold, though 

 worried by a dozen of sturdy dogs, all tugging at various points. This 

 we may presume operates much in his favour when seizing a prey. 

 Jackals and foxes, and even wolves when close pursued, especially if 

 hit with a stick or a stone, frequently drop what they have seized, and 

 content themselves with an escape. The kuttauss is so very secret in 

 his operations, that, were not the bones of his victims found in his 

 haunts, one might almost doubt whether he were carnivorous. Hounds 

 are wondrously incited by the scent of a kuttauss ; it seems to derange 

 them ; they defy all control, and, often disregarding the voice of the 

 hunter, as well as the sickness occasioned by the nauseous stench of 

 the animal, remain in the cover, barking and baying, until a sharp bite 

 sends them off howling, after which they show great aversion from a 

 fresh attack. If a jackal or other hunted animal cross near the haunt 

 of a kuttauss, he rarely fails to make his escape. The dogs all quit the 

 chase, and surround the stinking animal. Whether they be successful 

 in killing, or not, it matters little, for their scent is completely over- 

 come for that day ; and the hunter may assure himself that unless a 

 jackal may take to a plain, and be run in open view, no chance exists 

 of killing him. Indeed, after having worried a kuttauss, dogs treat all 

 other game with perfect indifference. It is a curious fact that jackals, 

 foxes, and kuttausses are most numerous near to the villages inhabited 

 by the Mussulmans. This, probably, is to be attributed to their rear- 

 ing poultry, which the Hindoos never do. Although fowls are very 

 cheap throughout India, being generally from two-pence to four-pence 

 each, yet one may travel a whole day through a populous country 

 without being able to obtain either an egg or a chicken. The Hindoo 

 religion proscribes them as being unclean ; whence a native of that per- 

 suasion will not even touch one ! It is from the Mussulmans alone 

 that poultry can be obtained, though they are occasionally reared 

 by the lower castes or sects, who are considered as perfect outcasts, 

 and are only tolerated on account of the convenience they afford 



