THE BLACK-BACKED JACKAL. 



259 



Jackal. In size it equals the common Jackal, but is easily distinguished from that animal by 

 the black and white mottlings which are thickly spread over its back, and give a peculiar rich- 

 ness to the coloring of its fur. Its habits are precisely the same as those of the common 

 Jackal, and need not be separate ty described. 



It is a very cunning as well as audacious animal, and is extremely apt at extricating itself 

 from any dangerous situation into which it has ventured in search of prey. 



One of these animals had for several successive ilights insinuated itself into a hen-roost, 

 in Pietermaritzberg, and borne away its inmates without being detected or checked. The 

 proprietor of the poultry, rinding that his fowls vanished nightly, and not knowing the mode 

 of their departure, vowed vengeance against the robber, whoever he might be, and fixed a 

 spring-gun across the only opening that gave access to the hen-house. In the course of the 

 succeeding night the report of the gun gave notice that the thief had been at his usual work, 





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BLACK-BACKED JACKAL.— Canis mesomelas. 



and the bereaved owner ran out towards the discharged gun, hoping to find its charge lodged 

 in the dead body of the marauder. However, the thief had made his escape, but had left 

 behind him sure tokens of Ms punishment in the shape of several heavy spots of blood that lay 

 along the ground for some little distance. Some hairs that were discovered in the cleft of a 

 splintered bar, by which the animal had passed, announced that a Jackal was the delinquent. 



In the morning the trail was followed up, but with little success, as it led across some 

 roads where so many footsteps were constantly passing that the blood -spots were hopelessly 

 destroyed, and the scent of the animal broken up by the trails of men and cattle. The road 

 that led to the plains was carefully examined, but no traces of the wounded animal could be 

 discovered. Two days afterwards it was found, with a hind-leg broken, in a bundle of Tam- 

 bookie grass, in the very middle of the village, and close to a butcher's shambles. The cun- 

 ning animal evidently knew that if it went to the plains it must die of starvation, and might, 

 moreover, be easily overtaken by its pursuers, so it concealed itself in the very spot where they 

 would least think of looking for it, and where it was within easy reach of food. 



The nightly shrieks with which the Black-backed Jackal fills the air are loud and piercing ; 



