86 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

of North Africa, the Kit Fox, the Red, the Grey and the
Silver Fox of North America, and the Arctic Fox (Leucocyon
lagopus) are the best known.

The Jackal. The Jackal, one of the most common of wild
animals in the East, is about the size of the fox, but
in shape it more nearly resembles the wolf. Its colour is a
bright yellow, or sorrel. Its cry is a howl, mixed with barking,
and a lamentation resembling that of human distress. The
jackal may be considered as the vulture of the quadruped
kind; the most putrid substances that once had life, are
greedily devoured. Like the hyzena, the jackals scratch up
with their feet the new-made grave, and devour the contents,
however decomposed. While at this dreary work, they make
a mournful cry, like that of children under chastisement, and
having thus dug up the body, they amicably share it. In
countries, therefore, where they abound, the people are obliged
to beat the earth over the grave, and mix it with thorns, to
prevent the jackals from scraping it away. The jackal never.
goes alone, but always in packs of forty or fifty together.
They watch the burying-grounds, follow armies, and keep in
the rear of caravans. The jackal, after having tired down its
prey, is often deprived of the spoil by the lion, the panther,
or the tiger, whose appetites are superior to their swiftness;
these attend its call, and devour the prey which it has run
down by its unceasing perseverance; and this circumstance
has given rise to the erroneous opinion, that the jackal is the
lion’s provider. The jackal is found in some parts of Europe
and abounds in most parts of Asia. Those of the warmest
climates are the largest, and their colour is rather of a reddish
brown than of that beautiful yellow by which the smaller
jackals are distinguished. Like the Fox it forms burrows in
the earth and emits an offensive odour.

The Wolfs “ Lhe Wolf,” says Professor Duncari in “ Cassell’s

Mode of Natural History”, “ usually lives in solitary places
Attack. in mountains; but in Spain he is said sometimes