310 
CAPE JACKAL. 
Canis Mesomelas. C. Cauda recta, corpore ferrugineo, fascia 
dorsali nigra, Lin, Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 73. 
Ferrugiiious Dog^ with strait tail, and black dorsal band. 
Der Capische Schakal. Sckreber saengtk. i. p. 570. tab. 95, 
Cape Schakal. Pcjinant Quadr. i. p, 26^. 
This animal is said to be not uncommon about 
the Cape of Good Hope, and is by some con- 
founded with the Jackal, to which, indeed^ it 
seems to be very nearly allied. The head is yel- 
lowish-brown^ with a mixture of black and white 
hairs, especially on the hind part ; the nape of the 
neck and the whole length of the back black, 
with a mixture of white : the black band com- 
mences at the top of the neck, and widens over 
the shoulders, in an almost rhomboid form, from 
thence decreasing to the tail, along the upper 
part of which it is still continued in form of a 
stripe. This black dorsal band is clouded on each 
side in the broadest part with whitish or greyish 
undulations, and a similar mixture is visible on 
the middle of the band. The general colour of 
the animal is bright foxy or ferruginous, with the 
throat, breast, abdomen, and insides of the thighs 
whitish : the tail is not unlike that of a fox, but 
rather less bushy, and is of the same bright ferru- 
ginous as the upper parts of the body, with three 
transverse black bands towards the end, and a 
black tip. The length of this animal is two feet 
and three quarters, exclusive of the tail, which 
