BOTANIC GARDENS MENAGERIE. 155 



seen no more. Sometime later one escaped and lived for a 

 short time in low scrub off Holland Eoad, but at length 

 disappeared. The others grew well for a year or two, but then 

 all were attacked by distemper. All attempts to pull them 

 through failed except in the case of one of the young ones 

 which completely recovered and lived for many years till it 

 was sold. I do not know if there is any other record of the 

 Jackal having bred in captivity. In the Handbook of Animals 

 kept in captivity in Calcutta Gardens it is stated that it has 

 never been successfully bred there. 



These Jackals are not rarely brought to Singapore from 

 India by natives, and another was brought to the Gardens by 

 an Indian on another occasion, but it was so much injured 

 that I shot it at once. The natives say that Jackals never live 

 long in Singapore as they always die of distemper here. 



C. Dingo. 



The Dingo. A very handsome and tame Dingo of large 

 size was presented to the menagerie in 1893. Though tame 

 enough to be taken out for walks on the chain every day, 

 it was unmanageable in sight of goats or chickens. When 

 it was being brought to Singapore it used to run loose 

 on the deck of the ship and play with the passengers but 

 when two sheep escaped from the butcher's pen, the 

 Dingo immediately dashed at them, and tore them to bits. 

 During a spell of extremely hot weather he shed his thick coat 

 and looked a very different animal. As he appeared to suffer 

 much from the heat he was moved up to the stables as being 

 cooler, but one night broke his rope and came upstairs into my 

 house and lay down under the table whence nothing would 

 induce him to move, and it was with great difficulty that he 

 was taken back to his quarters. He did not attempt to bite or 

 did he lose his temper but simply planted his feet on the floor 

 and held on. The hot weather however was too much for 

 him and he died a few days later. 



A white Dingo was also sent to the gardens from Perth, 

 as a great rarity, but had to be sent back to Australia, as at 

 the time of its arrival there was a hydrophobia panic in the 



R. A. Soc, No. 46, 1906. 



