476 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol, XXVIII. 
men as pets. Any scrub cover near the rivers and marshes, as well as the gardens 
and cover in the vicinity of towns simply swarmed with jackals. 
VULPES PERSICA—Persian Desert For.-—A very attractive and elegant little 
creature, that I was always attempting to bring to bag, though I but rarely 
succeeded. It seemed quite common wherever there were mounds, ancient 
tumuli and canal banks, etc., and was found to be very plentiful in broken country 
which was really suitable, such as in the vicinity of the Shatt-el-Adhaim. 
Being nocturnal in habits one rarely saw them except in the early morning or 
just before dark, though I have frequently caught them sunning themselves just 
outside their earths during the middle of the day. Whereas the jackal often 
had no alternative bolt holes, this species usually provides itself with one or 
more. The best way to secure specimens was to lie up over an earth in the even- 
ing and wait for them to emerge or try and catch the night reveller on his home- 
ward journey in the early morning and evén then unless shot at close quarters 
they frequently got in to their earths before dying. 
LurTra LuUTRA—Common Otter.—This was an animal that I was particularly 
anxious to secure in Mesopotamia, but I never even saw one, though I came 
across their traces inthe Tigris near the R. Adhaim in September, October, 
1917, and in the Euphrates and marshes in the vicinity of the Hindiyeh 
Barrage during June and July of the same year. 
JACULUS LoFTUSI—Loftus Jerboa.—During June and July 19161 found this 
Species very common indeed on the bare ‘‘ pat ’’ plains near SHEIKH SAAD on the 
Tigris, where we had one camp. Absolutely nocturnal in habits, they puzzled 
our dogs tremendously and I never saw them get caught by a dog—in fact I have 
frequently seen these little Jerboas leap right over their canine pursuers. Their 
earths go steeply into the ground for 2 or 3 feet and the little creatures evi- 
dently lie up all day in the cool, damp earth as I always noticed that captive 
Specimens, of which we tried to keep many from time to time, suffered 
tremendously from the great heat during the day, even when kept in the 
coolest of places dug right into the grounds, so much so that we never 
managed to keep any alive for morethana few days. They used to eat a 
certain amount of grain and crushed barley. They stopped the mouths of their 
earths by day and came out at dusk. Occupied earths during the day were 
easily distinguishable by the numerous foot prints made the previous night and 
one only had to pour a little water down the hole to flood out the owner, who 
was at once bagged on appearing outside his earth. To see dozens of white 
tail tips moving about jerkily in the dusk was really quite uncanny. 
T also came across them less plentifully on the Euphrates at Feluja (March-April 
—May 1917), Euphrates Barrage (June-July 1917), near Baghdad (August- 
September 1917) and near R. Adhaim (September-October 1917). I believe 
this species hibernates to a great extent during the winter months and heavy 
rains but do not know whether they seal up the entrances of their burrows to 
keep out the torrential rains. 
N.B.—After writing my notes about JacuLus LoFtust, I re-read the B. N. H. S. 
Journal’s introductory note and find that Mesopotamian specimens had only 
been taken on the Euphrates side. The animals to which I refer are the “‘ Jump- 
ing Jerboas ”’ and which I made no mistake about in each instance. 
TATERA BAILWARDI—Bailward’s Gerbil.—There is little that I know of this 
Species except that they were common in a colony in damp ground at the edge 
of L. Akkarkuf near Baghdad in July-August-September 1917. I used to 
catch them by flooding out their holes, but it was not too easy and I think their 
burrows go fairly deep and long, also as far as I can remember these earths did 
not have the entrances stopped with earth as in the case of Nesokia and Jacu- 
lus, but here I am open to correction. They used to come out in daylight both 
in the early morning and evenings and travelled over a good deal of ground 
