504 CARNIVORES. 
for one they eat. Like the civet in Java, jackals in the Wynaad district of Madras 
feed on the ripe fruit of the coffee plant. 
Somewhat curiously, the jackal of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor agrees 
with the Indian rather than with the African variety; the general colour being a 
pale dirty yellow, more or less tinged with rufous, with a variable amount of 
black on the back. In the Morea, where these animals are very common, they 
are asserted to be in the habit of disinterring dead bodies from the graveyards. 
The cry of a pack of jackals, when heard for the first time, strikes the ear 
with a peculiarly blood-curdling chill, and gives the impression that it is uttered 
by a much larger number of individuals than is really the case. Mr. Blanford 
describes the cry as consisting of two parts; first, “a long wailing howl, three or 
four times repeated, each note a little higher than the preceding, and then a 
succession of usually three quick yelps, also repeated two or three times. The 
common Anglo-Indian version of ‘Dead Hindoo, where, where, where, gives some 
idea of the call.” In the so-called variegated jackal of the Abyssinian Highlands, 
which is sometimes regarded as specifically distinct from the ordinary North 
African form, the second half of the ery is omitted. 
In addition to the ordinary cry there is, however, as the same writer remarks, 
another very peculiar call, “only uttered by the jackal, it 1s believed, when a tiger 
or a leopard is in the neighbourhood, and certainly uttered upon such occasions. 
The cry is unmistakable; I have several times heard it; but the jackal that makes 
it carries us at once into the region of fable and folk-lore. The same story that 
has existed on the shores of the Mediterranean for two thousand years at least, 
that a jackal acts as scout for the lions, or ‘tions’ provider, and is repaid by a 
share of the prey, is commonly believed with regard to the tiger in India; and it 
is this peculiar jackal, known as Pheal, Phiou, or Phnew, in Northern India, the 
name being taken from the ery, and as Bhalu, or Kol-bhalu in Southern and 
Western India, that is said to invariably precede the tiger, and to make the call 
just noticed. Several observers have, however, remarked that the jackal which 
makes the ery follows the tiger and does not precede him; and Blyth has observed 
that a pariah dog, on sniffing a collection of caged tigers in Calcutta, set up a most 
extraordinary howl, probably similar to that of the Pheal.” 
Occasionally the skull of the jackal has a peculiar bony process growing from 
the upper part of the occiput, which is said to be covered during life by a horny 
sheath, concealed among the hair, forming the so-called “jackal’s horn.” The 
female jackal generally gives birth to her young in a hole in the ground, although 
they have been found in an old drain; the number of cubs in a litter being 
usually from three to five. The pariah dogs of India breed freely with the jackal. 
Fossil remains of the jackal occur in the Siwalik Hills of Northern India. 
The Black-Backed The black-backed jackal (Canis mesonelus), is a very distinct 
Jackal. § African species. The adults of both sexes are characterised by their 
bright coloration, the sides of the body being red, the limbs and the upper part 
of the tail reddish yellow ; while the back of the body and the end of the tail are 
black. In some cases the line of division between the black of the back and the 
red of the sides is more distinct than in others, and the size of the black area is 
also subject to variation, although invariably widest over the shoulders. The 
