Egyptian jerboa.' 
113 
tions. When surprised, they will sometimes go on 
all fours ; but they soon recover their attitude of 
standing on their hind legs, like a bird. When 
undisturbed, they use the former posture ; then 
rise erect, listen, and hop about like a crow. In 
digging or eating, they drop on their fore legs ; 
but in the latter action, they often sit up also like 
a squirrel 1 . 
The Arabs of the kingdom of Tripoli, in Africa, 
teach their greyhounds to hunt the antelope, by 
first instructing them to catch jerboas ; and so agile 
are these little creatures, that Mr. Bruce has often 
seen, in a large court-yard or inclosure, the grey- 
hound employed a quarter of an hour before he 
could kill his diminutive adversary ; and had not 
the dog been well trained, so as to make use of 
his feet as well as his teeth, he might have killed 
two antelopes in the time of killing one jerboa. 
In their wild state, these animals are fond of tu- 
lip -roots, and nearly all the oleaginous plants ; but 
in confinement, they do not refuse raw meat. They 
are the prey of most of the smaller rapacious beasts. 
It requires no difficulty to tame them, but it is ne- 
cessary that they should be kept warm. They are 
so susceptible of cold, as to foretel bad weather by 
wrapping themselves close up in their cage before 
its commencement ; and those that are abroad, 
always, on these occasions, stop up the mouths of 
their burrows. They sleep during the winter, 
but a warm day sometimes revives them. On 
the return of the cold, they retreat again to their 
boles. 
M. Sonnini fed for some time, while he was in 
Egypt, six of these animals, in a large cage of iron 
wire. The very first night they Entirely gnawed 
asunder the upright and cross sticks of their pri- 
son ; and lie was under the necessity of having the 
inside of the cage lined with tin. They were 
