AIS^IMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 63 



cautiously until we crossed over. It proved to be a jungle cat 

 {Felis chaus). Height at shoulders 14 inches, length of head and 

 body 26 inches, tail 9 inches. 



Jackals (Canis aureus), were numerous in the ravines along the 

 river, and some of the night concerts with which they favored us 

 were highly entertaining, to say the least. Twice in particular, I 

 remember that as the sun went down, and darkness closed in rapid- 

 ly, the jackals all around us broke out into a perfect concert of 

 agonized yelping and yaw-yawing, so ludicrous that we all laughed 

 outright. The cry of a jackal is an abominable chopped-up yell, 

 haK howl, half bark. 



Upon opening my eyes one morning I saw a saucy and inquisi- 

 tive jackal sitting coolly upon the top of the bank, looking down 

 into our boat, apparently studpng the internal economy of our old 

 floating slaughter-house. As I reached for my rifle he gracefully 

 retired, and I stole quickly but quietly up the bank. Reaching 

 the top I failed to see him, and sat down to pull various thorns out 

 of the bottoms of my feet. While thus engaged I espied a dark 

 gray object across a little ra\ine, sitting quietly upon a little mound, 

 watching me with the greatest curiosity. It was my morning 

 caller. It was hardly light enough to see my sight, but I fired at 

 him from where I sat. He fell down, but jumped up with a pro- 

 fane growl, remarking that that was a pretty way to treat a visitor, 

 and disappeared in the ravines. An hour later one of my men 

 found him Ijing dead under a bush, shot through the liver. Carlo 

 watched one night near the carcass of a ga\'ial, and killed another 

 specimen 'W'ith my No. 10 shotgun. 



Two species of tvirtle, Batagur thurgii and THonyx Gangeticus, 

 were abundant in the river, especially the latter. Above Allahabad 

 we saw this large, soft-shelled variety in great numbers, and of very 

 large size, lying upon the sand at the water's edge, with their long, 

 skinny necks stretched high in air. Below Etawah, also, we saw 

 them frequently, and several times I tried to break their necks with 

 a bullet, but without success. A good net would have been more 

 useful than fire-arms. One day we were fortunate enoiigh to find 

 a large female Batagur thurgii out in the middle of a sand-bar, 

 whither she had crawled to deposit her eggs. We cut off her re- 

 treat toward the water and she fell an easy prey. She weighed 

 thirty-two pounds, and from her ovary we took twenty-five fully de- 

 veloped eggs. 



There was another animal in the river which I desired above 



