JACKAL.
The jackal is found in Syria, Arabia, Persia, in all India west of the Brahruaputra, and over S.E. Europe. Both the jackal and the hymna are more or less plentiful, affecting even the mountainous regions to pretty high altitudes. Along the line of the Ganges, in Lower Bengal, they move in packs and eat indiscriminately. In the Peninsula, they are of larger size, are often seen singly or hi pairs, and in the Dekhan live much on, wild fruits; the coffee-bean of the plantations is largely eaten by them. Their cry when moving at' night is very disagreeable, and even when clicketing, their call is unpleasant. Among mammals, the jackal, hyaena, domestic swine, and dog ; and among birds, vultures, kites, prows, minas, and the adjutant bird Leptoptilos argala, Gmel., are the chief carrion eaters of S.E. Asia. The swine, the buffalo, the cow, the bullock, and even sheep, in many parts of India, are driven daily to the purlieus of the towns. The jackal and hyena are of nocturnal, bold, and stealthy habits, and though the hyena hunts generally singly, the jackal does so in packs, and anything in the way of flesh, putrid or otherwise, is acceptable. The cry of the jackal is peculiar ; it is composed of a succession of half-barking, half-wailing cries, on different notes. When properly pronounced, there is no better illustration of it than the following words, set to the tones of the animal's voice : dead Hindu ! a dead Hindu ! Where-where ? where-where? Here-here ; here-here.' The jackal in the Peninsula of India and in the low country of Ceylon sometimes hunts in packs, headed by a leader, and they have been seen to assault and pull down a deer. The small number of hares in the districts they infest is ascribed to their depredations. When a jackal has brought down his game and killed it, its first impulse is to hide it in the nearest jungle, whence he issues with an air of easy indifference, to observe whether anything more powerful than himself may be at hand, from which he might encounter the risk of being despoiled of his capture. If the coast be clear, he returns to the concealed carcase, and, followed by his companions, carries it away. But if a man be in sight, or any other animal to be avoided, the jackal has been seen to seize a cocoanut husk in his mouth, or any similar sub stance, and fly at full speed, as if eager to carry off his pretended prize, returning for the real booty at some more convenient season.
The following anecdote may be told of a jackal: —‘ Going homewards I shot a fine buck chitul (or spotted deer), and while following up his prints and blood, as silently as possible, in the hope of getting another shot upon our again starting him, we heard a great stamping and crashing of bushes about forty yards ahead ; soon we saw the buck trying to shake off alarge jackal that had pinned him by the throat. The chitul in vain tried, by swing ing his head backwards and forwards violently, to dislodge the jackal, who, doubled up like a ball, held on as well as the best bull-dog could have done, nor did he lose his hold until, after watch ing this strange scene for some minutes, I dropped the chitul with another shot. The jackal hastily retreated. Often when walking after a wounded black buck or antelope in the plains, I have seen one or two jackals trotting along in the exact direction the wounded antelope had gone off. There is very little chance of any wounded small animal escaping such watchful creatures.' The kole balloo is an aged jackal which accom panies a tiger, and feeds on the tiger's prey. Jackals are subject to. hydrophobia, and instances are frequent of cattle being bitten by them and dying in consequence. An excrescence or small horny cone, about half an inch in length, and concealed by a tuft of hair, is sometimes found on the head of the jackal. This the Singhalese call narri comboo ; and they aver that the possessor of this can command by its instrumentality the realiza tion of every wish, and that if stolen or lost by him, it will invariably return of its own accord. Those who have jewels to conceal rest in perfect security, if, along with them, they can deposit a narri-comboo, fully convinced that its presence is an effectual safeguard against robbers. The words of Psalm lxiii. 10, ' They shall be a portion for foxes,' appear obscure ; but if they be rendered, They shall be a portion for jackals,' the anathema becomes plain and striking to a Ilindu, in whose country the disgusting sight of jackals devouring human bodies may be seen every day.—Teniment's Ceylon; Eothen's Tr. ; Ward's llindoos ; Adams' Naturalist in India.