NOTES ON WILD DOGS, &c. 606 



Mr. Blanford, following Jerdoo, gives the Marathi names of the 

 wild dog as kolsun, koliisna, kolsa, and kolasrd, as variously 

 pronounced by the Marathas in different localities,* but neither 

 Jerdon nor he includes in the list of vernacular names of these dogs 

 the names by which they are known in Guzerat, viz., Ml, or Jcol- 

 Uitttd. The Vasawas of the Tapti Valley call them kol. The 

 Guzerathi language, of which a very corrupt form is spoken among 

 the Bhils, Kolis, Naikdas, Vasawas, Dilblas, and other wild tribes of 

 the jungles of South-Eastern Guzerat, shades gradually into Marathi 

 along the frontiers of Khandeish, and possibly the word k6l is the 

 same as the Marathi kola (gffsr), a jackal (Guzerathi both RlMl"! 

 and Jj^lC^ kholun), in which case kol-kutta would mean the jackal- 

 dog. This would be rather a good descriptive name, as the kol, like 

 the kola, is shortish-legged, and of a reddish hue, and has a dark 

 tip to its brush. I would also compare with the name the 

 word kol-hhdlu, given in Hindustan to the so-called tiger-pro- 

 vider, the supposed jackal with the wen'd wild-dog-like cry 

 (see Blanford, p. 142). Indeed, it may perhaps be a question 

 whether this kol-hhdla be always a jackal and not at times a solitary 

 kol-kutta, which utters this unearthly wail, just as domestic dogs 

 sometimes moan so strangely as to have given rise to certain 

 notions of hdnshees and ghostly visitants. Bhdlu in Hindustani 

 means ^a. bear.' What is its special sense in kol-hhdlu? Elliot 

 (quoted by Jerdon, p. 143) says that in the South of India 

 bhdlu is the name of an old jackal " in constant attendance on the 

 tiger "; and the evidence that the " tiger-provider " is a jackal, 

 seems rather strong ; but as the tiger is nocturnal, I do not see how 

 the kol-hhdlu could have been identified beyond all doubt as a 

 jackal. On this point a friend writes as follows : — 



" Rice mentions the kol-hhdlu as accompanying the tiger. I think 

 he saw one more than once. He certainly believed it to be a 

 jackal. It has always seemed to me that the term ' provider ' was 

 inverted, and that the jackal followed the tiger to pick up the 



•In Molesworth's Marathi Dictionary (ed. 1831, p. 221) I find :—'° ^fss^iTr sm. 

 A small wild animal, said to kill tigers by making water upon its tail, and spirting 

 it into the tiger's eyes. This word is variously written : ^fSrSET^, ^ffffSS'^r, 

 ^f^^,^f^r^r, ^^5?T, &c." Compare this with Jerdon's and Blanford's remarks. 



