"gip." 237 



bachelor ; and, like Bartle Massey's " Vixen," 

 brought disgrace upon herself by bringing 

 Gip into the world. But if this was feminine 

 folly, Grip was none to blame, and we never 

 mention it. 



When he was only a few months old he had 

 developed several remarkable characteristics. 

 He seemed to have some subtle means of ana- 

 lyzing character, and so great faith did we have 

 in his powers of discrimination, that whenever 

 he seemed disposed to withhold his confidence 

 we invariably withheld ours; and subsequent 

 events showed that he was right. 



But, with all his active intelligence, he is very 

 much a creature of habit. For instance, just 

 before lying down, he will turn round and round 

 and scratch the floor, even when the latter is per- 

 fectly smooth and hard. This action, meaning- 

 less in itself, is probably an inherited trait from 

 Gip's remote ancestors when they lived in a 

 wild state, and is practised now by jackals 

 and other allied animals in the Zoological Gar- 

 dens. The action is intended to trample down 

 the grass or scoop out a hollow before lying- 

 down for the night, and in this manner the 

 animals just indicated treat their straw. 



