MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 549 



occasion I was much puzzled at seeing two jackals wildly howling in dense 

 forest, and as they perpetually gazed upwards it was not until, in the dusk of 

 the evening, I observed a large python in a tree overhead that I could under- 

 stand the occurrence. Jackals run to bay by dogs will often make this noise, 

 and their dying cry, when shot, is frequently in this language. Altogether, I 

 think there can be no doubt that, as a rule, it is a warning note of danger by 

 the individual and perhaps a call for assistance. Probably also it is employed 

 an the breeding season, and this would account for hearing ifc in civilized 

 localities where there are no excursions and alarms. Natives assert that this 

 is the case, and I have proved the veracity of the statement in one instance by 

 having the jackal shot— it was a slut in season. In some jungle districts not a 

 week passes without hearing the familiar cry of the " Kol-Bahlu." It should 

 be remembered that the instinct of all wild animals leads them to keep the 

 -dangerous object under observation and not to fly wildly from it. The sole 

 ■exception being when the danger is so far-reaching as man has proved himself 

 to be. Deer of all kinds will remain in the vicinity of a tiger or panther as 

 long as possible though they will not dog his retreat. It would seem ,as if the 

 larger carnivora do not relish a wild charge into a herd of observant deer, 

 and that the latter know full well that the charge would at once follow if they 

 turned their backs on the enemy. I have seen a sambhar hind belling at a 

 tiger within 25 yards and refusing to move ; and a chital stag standing even 

 ■closer and loudly expressing his disapproval. In the first instance the tiger 

 was eating a wild boar and in the second a buffalo. In the same way, jackals 

 having encountered a danger will, for the sake of safety, keep it under observa- 

 tion. The jackal possesses a marked sense of humour. I was one evening ob- 

 serving the remains of a goat which had been killed by a panther when some 

 jackals appeared on the scene and at once fell to with an appetite. A 

 temporary disagreement followed by a sharp fight ending in one being driven 

 off. It sat at a short distance for some time and, when the attention of the 

 others was fully engaged, rushed towards them with growls, bounding in quite 

 an unusual manner. So good an imitation was it of a panther's charge that all 

 the jackals fled with bristling coats. The practical joker then came in for his 

 share of the feast. It is beyond doubt that wild animals are to a great extent 

 judges of the intentions and humour of others without direct communication. 

 The smaller carnivora know well whether the owner of a half-eaten kill has 

 finally relinquished his claim or not ; the deer can tell if a prowling tiger is on 

 the hunt or merely taking a constitutional. In the first case a glance or a sniff 

 will send the hungry hyena or jackal away with hair on end, and the satisfied 

 roaring of a well-filled tiger will elicit no warning cries from the deer in the vici- 

 nity. The law of the jungle is more a fact than a romance, and we dense mor- 

 tals learn but little of it even after a lifetime spent in the haunts of big game, 



S. EARDLEY-WILMOT, 

 Lucknow, December, 1897. Conservator, Oudh, 



