307 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII. 
leaves and undergrowth, and presently a jackal appeared and went straight 
to the fish, looked at them and smelt them, and then sat down beside them. 
After a few moments I heard another slight rustling in the same direction, 
and the jackal, who was sitting by the fish, must also have heard it, for he 
looked up and gave one slight bark, not unlike the faint call of a cheetul, and 
almost immediately afterwards a second jackal appeared and joined him. The 
two now stood by the fish, not attempting to eat any, but looking about them 
in anxious expectation. After five or ten minutes they suddenly ran away 
on one side to a distance of about ten yards, stopped, turned round and 
looked in the direction of the fish, In about a quarter of a minute an hyena 
appeared from a direction at right angles with the line taken by the jackals ; 
he was walking straight to the fish, and on coming in view of the jackals, he 
turned his head and glanced at them and at once proceeded to inspect the 
food laid out for him. The jackals now ran up to the hyena and, on approach- 
ing him, wriggled their bodies with their bellies close to the ground, much like 
the attitude that a puppy often assumes when making up toa big dog. They 
seemed to express delight at the arrival of the hyena, and so close did they 
come to him that I think they must have rubbed themselves against his sides, 
and here they remained whilst their lord and master, without taking any 
notice of them, was selecting the most dainty of the fish, The jackals made 
no attempt to even put their noses near the food. Darkness coming on 
prevented my seeing any longer, so I carried out the object for which I sat 
up. The jackals in this case may be said to have provided food for the 
hyena, inasmuch as they did not eat it themselves, and their presence was 
sufficient to keep smaller animals away. In the absence of any other reliable 
theory, it seems probable that the term “lion-provider” has been applied to 
the jackal from experiences similar to what I have related, the only difference 
being that the lion has taken the part played in this instance by the hyena. 
F. J. A. HILL. 
12th June, 1893. 
No. V—AN AGGRESSIVE COBRA. 
On the 28th June last a number of the convicts of the Kolhapore Jail were 
employed in cleaning up the compound of the State Hospital, and the sepoy 
in charge, Husain Bux, sat, watching the party, on the flight of nine broad 
stone steps which leads from the corner of the hospital compound up to the 
quarters of Mr. McGill, the Darbar Veterinary Officer. It was about mid-day 
and the sepoy was sitting at the end of one of the steps, half way up the 
fight, with the entrance to Mr. McGill’s little garden above and rather 
behind him to the left, when he felt a sharp smack, as from a flat object, 
on his back. just above his waist-belt, and, as he says, thought at the moment 
that some one had thrown something at him. Luckily, indeed, he did not 
put his hand behind to feel what the object was, for on looking round under 
