NATURE NOTES. 
1 88 
our English fox. It is strong in build, with the sharp nose and 
ears of the fox, and with a bushy tail. It interbreeds with the 
common dog, and indeed by some it is supposed to have been 
its progenitor. The period of gestation is the same, and the 
hybrid is fertile; still, as we know, there is no friendship between 
the domesticated dog and the wild jackal, hence it is frequently 
hunted with dogs, as the fox is in this country, the hounds being 
usually imported from Europe, though sometimes native breeds 
are employed. 
In its habits it is infinitely more cunning than the fox, or, as 
Mr. John Barlow puts it, in his usual terse and concise way, 
“ the English fox is a fool compared with him.” In simulating 
death, the Indian jackal excels indeed, the dervish of the desert, 
and when in the actual mouths of the hounds will lie as if stone 
dead, and then, choosing his opportunity later, will pull himself 
together and scamper off into the jungle. 
This variety of the jackal has been truly termed a vulture 
amongst quadrupeds, he devours any flesh he can pick up in the 
shape of a dead camel or bullock, and any food he may find 
about the villages, yet withal he is very partial to the w’ild plum 
[Zizyphus Jtijuba), the sugar-cane, maize, melons, and even coffee 
berries, when he has a chance ; and the farmers have great 
difficulty in preserving their crops from these clever thieves. 
In the Punjaub it is usual, by way of protection, to picket a dog 
at each corner of a field when the crops are ripening, and the 
farmers make choice of dogs of different colours; the white dog 
they call “Bugla,” after the Sanscrit word for a white crane, the 
black dog is termed “kaloo,”also from the Sanskrit signifying 
black, while the spotted or party-coloured dog is nicknamed 
“ Dubba,” from the Punjabi word “ dub,” a spot. 
The farmer sleeps in a hut in his field, and when he hears 
the sound of the jackals he shouts to the dog by name who may 
be in the corner where they are approaching, and adds the 
words, oft repeated, Tho! Tho! Tho! which answers to our signal 
by the whistle. Notwithstanding all these precautions, however, 
both he and his dogs are often cleverly baffled by the jackals, 
who to get at the cobs of the maize or Indian corn, will quietly 
press their breasts against the stems until they bring them 
to the ground, and to procure a feast of the wild plum they 
have been known even to whisk their hairy tails so as to catch the 
thorns of the bush, and, by a succession of shakes, to bring down 
the fruit. 
As one more proof of the extreme cunning of this animal, I 
may quote Sir Emerson Tennent’s work on “ Ceylon,” where, in 
referring to the jackals on that island he says : “ They are 
frequently in the habit of hiding their boot)’, and, if observed, 
will seize some indifferent article and make off with it, as if that 
were the object of their solicitude, returning to their real spoil at 
the first convenient opportunity.” I have known our domesti- 
cated dogs to bury the bones from their meal ; and every one 
