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Canid.e.- 



-MAMMALIA - 



-Canid.e. 



were worrying. They were so iiutnerous tliat not 

 only ihe dogs were defeated, but the jackals abeohitely 

 rushed out of the cover in pui-suit of them ; and when 

 Mr. Kinloch and his party rode up to whip them oft', 

 their horses were bit, and it was not without difSculty 

 a retreat was effected. The pack was found to have 

 sutTered so severely, as not to be able to take the field 

 for many weeks." The same writer speaks of the 

 Jackal as an e.xtremely troublesome customer. He 

 is exceedingly vigilant, and seldom fails to carry his 

 purpose. In spite of your efforts to scare him away, 

 even with the aid of fiie-arms, he will perseveringly 

 " wait at your door, nay, will enter your house, and 

 avail himself of the smallest opening for enterprise; 

 he will rob your roost, and steal kids, lambs, pigs, and 

 sometimes even take a pup from its sleepy mother; 

 he will strip a larder, or pick the bones of a carcase — 

 all with equal avidity. It is curious to see them 

 fighting almost within reach of your stick, for proximity 

 to expected booty. It may readily be supposed that 

 when any meat or poultry is purloined by servants, the 

 Jackal bears the blame. An officer in our battalion in 

 one niglit lost twenty- seven fowls from the hut in 

 which they were kept ; on which one of his servants did 

 not hesitate to declare that, on hearing their uproar 

 during the night, he had run to see what was tlio 

 matter, and saw twenty-seven jackals, each bearing 

 away his bird ! " Jackals, as we have seen, will 

 devour any kind of offal, and it is credibly stated that 

 they will dig up and greedily feed upon the half-buried 

 corpses of a battle-tield. The odour of the Jackal is 

 very ofl'ensive, but it appears to wear off in the 

 domesticated animal. The matter which gives rise to 

 the disagreeable smell is secreted by a gland at the 

 base of the tail. This dermal or skin gland was at one 

 time supposed to exist only in the foxes, until a distin- 

 guished comparative anatomist — Professor Retzius, of 

 Stockholm — showed that this organ occurs in wolves 

 and jackals also. It is not necessary to place the 

 slightest reliance in the old story about jackals acting 

 as puiTeyors to the lion, there being no sufficient 

 grounds for such a notion. 



THE WOLF {Cams Ikjhis), Plate 7, fig. 24.— Pro- 

 bal)ly no wild animal is more dreaded in civilized 

 countries than the common Wolf, its ferocity and 

 strength having very often proved disastrous to the 

 traveller, and to the residents of outlying villages. Its 

 general appearance is too well known to require any 

 lengthened description. The body is about four feet 

 long, exclusive of the tail, which measures from fourteen 

 to eighteen inches, according to circumstances. The 

 straight direction and dependent position of this organ 

 has been considered as a character sufficiently important 

 to distinguish tlie wolf from the dog ; but when those 

 who argue for the specitic distinctness of the two animals 

 are thus obliged to resort to such trifling characters, 

 it shows the very slender nature of the grounds on 

 which their arguments are based. Without regarding 

 the point in dispute as entirely decided, we strongly 

 adhere to the view of Professor Owen and others, who 

 regard all kinds of dogs as domesticated varieties of 

 the wolf. The fur of the Wolf is long, especially on 

 t)ie throat and below the ears ; its texture rough, wiry, 



and harsh. Ordinarily it is of a yellowish-grey colour, 

 being much lighter beneath the neck and belly. Some 

 varieties are dark, almost pure black. In northern 

 regions the fur becomes light-coloured during the winter, 

 and is very frequently quite white ; yellow and pied 

 varieties have also been described. There are indeed 

 many wolves differing very markedly in size and colour, 

 and it is quite impossible to determine accurately how 

 many of them represent distinct species. Even if this 

 were the proper place to discuss the matter, our space 

 would not allow a full and complete discussion of the 

 subject. Tlie black variety is very common in the 

 south of Europe, especially on the Spanish side of the 

 Pyrenees. They are very large, tall, and strong in that 

 quarter, and their habits are excessively crafty. Colonel 

 Hamilton Smitli says, that they formerly congregated 

 " in the [lasses of the Pyrenees in large troops ; and even 

 now the Lobo will accora]iany strings of mules as soon 

 as it becomes dusky. They are seen bounding from 

 bush to bush by the side of travellers, and keeping 

 parallel with them as they proceed, waiting an oppor- 

 tunity to select a victim, and often succeeding, unless 

 the muleteers can reach some place of safety before 

 dark, and have no dangerous passes to traverse." 

 These black wolves are likewise to be found in the 

 mountain slopes of Friuli and in the neighbourhood of 

 Cattaro. The common grey variety is very widely 

 distributed, occurring in various parts of Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, and North America. In early historic times it 

 roamed at large in the forests of Great Britain, as 

 abundantly, perhaps, as it now occurs in some districts 

 of France, Hungary, Russia, Norway, and Sweden. 

 Their rapacity is much increased during the winter 

 months, especially if the cold season prove unusually 

 severe and protracted, when the supply of food neces- 

 sarily becomes limited. On these occasions their depre- 

 dations prove most disastrous. Thus, Dr. Weissenborn 

 informs us, that in one severe winter on the continent, 

 they became remarkably bold and violent. About the 

 middle of the month of January large numbers infested 

 tlie neighbourhood of Stuttgard, where they succeeded 

 in capturing a poor lad, twelve years of age, only a 

 few miles outside the city. At night they prowled 

 about in packs; and one batch of them, ten in number, 

 having forced their way into a farmyard near Agram, 

 they committed most serious havoc among the cattle. 

 Many crossed over into Prussia from the Polish fron- 

 tiers, and a solitary individual deliberately attacked a 

 horse in one of the busiest and principal streets in the 

 city of Kcinigsberg. Many other instances have been 

 given of their daring under the extremities of famine. 

 The most horrible account is that recorded by Captain 

 Williamson in Northern India. On this occasion their 

 want of food was not the result of cold, but it was 

 owing to the extreme drought of the year 1783, which 

 caused a dreadful scarcity of all kinds of food and 

 animals during the ensuing season. This fiimine was 

 especially felt in the fertile province of Oude. Thou- 

 sands of the natives, we are told, perished from starva- 

 tion, " while numbers fell an easy prey to the wolves, 

 which, being bereft of their usual means of subsistence 

 by the general destruction of all eatable animals, were 

 at first compelled, and afterwards found it convenient, 



