IN CAPTIVITY IN LOWER BENGAL. 79 



the same style as that assigned for an orang, but smaller. They should 

 have an inner sleeping room and an outer den provided respectively 

 with a platform and a bath, the latter being particularly necessary 

 during the hot weather. The walls should, in the case of wolves, be 

 whitewashed, if practicable, oftner than for other animals, as this helps 

 to keep down the offensive smell inseparable from their residence. 

 Young wolves can be kept in wire cages with boarded floors or in small 

 portable cages. 



Food.— Beef, boiled or raw, according to taste. Like civets and 

 mungooses, they also eat bread, biscuits, and plantains. Tame wolves 

 may be fed exactly in the same way as dogs. 



Transport. — No particular remarks are necessary. 



Treatment in sickness. 



Two tame adolescent wolves had an attack of paralysis of the 

 whole body, brought on, it was conjectured, by sunstroke; as the 

 animals were past recovery, they had to be killed. Another wolf 

 suffered from a similar ailment, and after lingering for a few months 

 died. In this case, however, sunstroke could not have been the cause, 

 as the animal lived in a perfectly shady place. Young wolves generally 

 succumb to diarrhoea. Something resembling St. Vitus ' dance was 

 observed in a specimen, but its nature was never ascertained ; the animal 

 recovered after some time. 



Observations on the habits of Wolves. 



Wolves when brought up as pets have been known to become as tame 

 as dogs, showing all their playfulness and intelligence and answering to 

 their names, coming up and receiving caresses. Whether quite adult 

 wolves would remain as tame as when they were young is not known. 

 Some of the wolves living in the garden appear to be very fond of 

 paddling the water, especially during the hot weather, so that the floor 

 of their den is seldom dry. They are extremely restless animals, and 

 may often be seen, like the hysenas, rapidly pacing up and down their 

 cages. Their excitement and impatience are very great at the approach 

 of feeding-time. The wolves in the garden have not been known 

 to bark in the same way as a pariah dog, but they sometimes make 

 an attempt as it were, at barking, a subdued sort of a " bow-wow." 

 They have, however, been known to howl a great deal, and add to the 

 evening chorus of discordant sounds produced by the lion's roar, the 

 cry of the jackal, and the plaintive note of the distant dingo. 



For further information on the habits of the Indian wolf the 

 following works may be consulted: — "Fauna of British India " — Blan- 

 ford ; " Jungle Life "—Ball. 



(84) THE JACKAL. 

 (CANIS AUEEUS— Linn.) 



The jackal is such a well-known animal in Bengal that any 

 description is superfluous. Like wolves, jackals vary a great deal in 

 colour. Quite adult and healthy specimens have a good deal of black 



