the grave, and to mix it with thorns, to prevent the jackals from scraping it away. They always assist each other as well in this employment of exhumation, as in that of the chase. While they are at this dreary work, they exhort each other by a most mournful cry, resembling that of children under chastisement; and when they have thus dug up the body, they share it amicably between them. These, like all other savage animals, when they have once tasted of human flesh, can never after refrain from pursuing mankind. They watch the burying-grounds, follow armies, and keep in the rear of caravans. They may be considered as the vulture of the quadruped kind; every thing that once had animal life, seems equally agreeable to them; the most putrid substances are greedily devoured; dried leather, and anything that has been rubbed with grease, how insipid soever in itself, is sufficient to make the whole go down.

They hide themselves in holes by day, and seldom appear abroad till nightfall, when the jackal that has first hit upon the scent of some larger beast gives notice to the rest by a howl, which it repeats as it runs; while all the rest, that are within hearing, pack in to its assistance.

The lion, the tiger, and the panther, whose appetites are superior to their swiftness, attend to the call of the jackal, and follow in silence at some distance behind.(g) The jackal pursues the whole night with unceasing assiduity, keeping up the cry, and with great perseverance at last tires down its prey; but just at the moment it supposes itself going to share the fruits of its labour, the lion or the leopard comes in, satiates himself upon the spoil, and his poor provider must be content with the bare carcass he leaves behind. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if the jackal be voracious, since it so seldom has a suffi ciency; nor that it feeds on putrid substances, since it is not permitted to feast on what it has newly killed. Beside these enemies, the jackal has still another to cope with, for between him and the dog there is an irreconcileable antipathy, and they never part without an engagement. The Indian peasants often chase them as we do foxes; and have learned, by experience, when they have got a lion or a tiger in their rear. Upon such occasions they keep their dogs close, as they would be no match for such formidable animals, and endeavour to put them to flight with their cries. When the lion is dismissed, they more easily cope with the jackal, who is as stupid as it is impudent, and seems much better fitted for pursuing than retreating. It sometimes happens that one of them steals silently into an out-house, to seize the poultry, or devour the furniture, but hearing others in full cry at a distance, without thought, it instantly answers the call, and thus betrays its own depredations. The peasants sally out upon it, and the foolish animal finds, too late, that its instinct was too powerful for its safety.

THE JACKAL, THE LION'S PROVIDER.This animal has been popularly called the lion's provider. The common notion that he is in confederacy with the lion, as above shown to be, is an erroneous one. At the cry of the jackal, echoed as it is by hundreds of similar voices through the woods and arid plains, the lion, whose ear is dull, rouses himself into action. He knows that some unhappy wanderer from the herds has crossed the path of the jackal, and he joins in the pursuit. Of this nocturnal cry we have the most fearful accounts. "The chacal's shriek," has been often described as more terrific than the how of the hyæna, or the roar of the tiger; and it probably is most alarming, from its singular dreariness amidst the lonely regions in which it is heard. Captain Beechy describes it well, in his account of the Expedition to explore

"The cry

the Northern Coasts of Africa.
of the jackal, has something in it rather ap
palling, when heard for the first time at
night; and as they usually come in packs,
the first shriek which is uttered, is always
the signal for a general chorus. We hardly
know a sound which partakes less of har-
mony; and indeed, the sudden burst of the
answering, long-protracted scream, succeed-
ing immediately to the opening note, is
scarcely less impressive than the roll of the
thunder-clap immediately after a flash of
lightning. The effect of this music is very
much increased, when the first note is heard
in the distance, and the answering yell
bursts out from several points at once, within
a few yards, or feet, of the place where th
auditors are sleeping."

(g) Linnæi Systema, p. 60.

THE ISATIS.-As the jackal is a sort of intermediate species between the

dog and the wolf; (g) so the isatis may be considered as placed between the dog and the fox. This animal has hitherto been supposed to be only a variety of the latter; but from the latest observations, there is no doubt of their being perfectly distinct. The isatis is very common in all the northern countries bordering upon the Icy sea; and is seldom found, except in the coldest countries. It extremely resembles a fox, in the form of

its body and the length of its tail: and a dog, in the make of its head and the position of its eyes. The hair of these animals is softer than that of a common fox; some are blue, some are white at one season, and at another of a russet brown. Although the whole of its hair be two inches long, thick, tufted and glossy, yet the under jaw is entirely without any, and the skin appears bare in that part.

This animal can bear only the coldest climates, and is chiefly seen along the coasts of the Icy sea, and upon the banks of the great rivers that discharge themselves therein. It is chiefly fond of living in the open country, and seldom seen in the forest, being mostly found in the mountainous and naked regions of Norway, Siberia, and Lapland. It burrows, like the fox; and when with young, the female retires to her kennel, in the same manner as the fox is seen to do. These holes, which are very narrow, and extremely deep, have many outlets. They are kept very clean, and are bedded at the bottom with moss, for the animal to be more at its ease. Its manner of coupling, time of gestation, and number of young, are all similar to what is found in the fox; and it usually brings forth at the end of May, or the beginning of June.

Such are the particulars in which this animal differs from those of the dog kind, and in which it resembles them: but its most striking peculiarity remains still to be mentioned; namely, its changing its colour, and being seen at one time brown, and at another perfectly white. As was already said, some are naturally blue, and their colour never changes; but such as are to be white, are, when brought forth, of a yellow hue, which, in the beginning of September, is changed to white, all except along the top of the back, along which runs a stripe of brown, and another crossing it down the shoulders, at which time the animal is called the crost for; however, this brown cross totally disappears before winter, and then the creature is all over white, and its fur is two inches long: this, about the beginning of May, again begins to fall; and the molting is completed about the middle of July, when the isatis becomes brown once more. The fur of this animal is of no value, unless it be killed in winter.

THE HYENA.-The hyaena is the last animal I shall mention among those of the dog kind, which it in many respects resembles, although too strongly marked to be strictly reduced to any type. The hyæna is nearly of the size of a wolf; and has some similitude to that animal in the shape of its head and body. The head, at first sight, does not appear to differ, except that the ears of the hyæna are longer, and more without hair; but, upon observing more closely, we shall find the head broader, the nose flatter, and not so pointed. The eyes are not placed obliquely, but more like those of a dog. The legs, particularly the hinder, are longer than those either of the dog or the wolf, and different from all other quadrupeds, in having but four toes, as well on the fore-feet as on the

(g) In this description I have followed Mr. Buffon.

hinder. Its hair is of a dirty greyish colour, marked with black, disposed in waves

down its body. Its tail is

short, with pretty long hair; and immediately under it, above the anus, there is an opening into a kind of glandular pouch, which separates a substance of the consistence but not of the odour of civet. This opening might have given rise to the error of the ancients, who asserted, that this animal was every year, alternately, male and female. Such are the most striking distinctions of the hyæna, as given us by naturalists; which, nevertheless, convey but a very confused idea of the peculiarity

of its form. Its manner of holding the head seems remarkable somewhat like a dog, pursuing the scent, with the nose near the ground. The head being held thus low, the back appears elevated, like that of the hog, which, with a long bristly band of hair that runs all along, gives it a good deal the air of that animal; and, it is probable that, from this similitude, it first took its name, the word huoina being Greek, and derived from hus, which signifies a sow.

But no words can give an adequate idea of this animal's figure, deformity, and fierceness. More savage and untameable than any other quadruped, it seems to be for ever in a state of rage or rapacity, for ever growling, except when receiving its food. Its eyes then glisten, the bristles of its back all stand upright, its head hangs low, and yet its teeth appear; all which give it a most frightful aspect, which a dreadful howl tends to heighten. This, which I have often heard, is very peculiar: its beginning resembles the voice of a man moaning, and its latter part as if he were making a violent effort to vomit. As it is loud and frequent, it might, perhaps, have been sometimes mistaken for that of a human voice in distress, and have given rise to the accounts of the ancients, who tell us, that the hyæna makes its moan, to attract unwary travellers, and then to destroy them: however this be, it seems the most untractable, and, for its size, the most terrible of all other quadrupeds; nor does its courage fall short of its ferocity; it defends itself against the lion, is a match for the panther, attacks the ounce, and seldom fails to conquer.*

* HABITS OF THE HYENA.-The peculiar powers of the hyæna, arising out of the extraordinary strength of the jaws and teeth, admirably fit him for the purposes which he serves in the economy of nature. An inhabitant of warm countries, he principally derives his subsistence, in common with the jackal and the vulture, from those animal remains, which if unconsumed, would produce the most serious inconvenience. Mr. Pringle observes: "There are several species of vulture in South Africa, but the most common is the large light-coloured vultur percnopterus, one of the sacred birds of the ancient Egyptians. These fowls divide with the hyænas the office of carrion scavengers; and the promptitude with which they discover and devour every dead carcass, is truly surprising. They also instinctively follow any band of hunters, or party of men travelling, especially

in solitary places, wheeling in circles high in the air, ready to pounce down upon any game that may be shot, and not instantly secured. I have seen a large ox so dexterously handled by a flock of these voracious fowls, that in the course of three or four hours not a morsel, except the bones and skin, which they had contrived to disincarnate almost entire, remained for the hyænas. In a field of battle in South Africa, no one ever buries the dead; the birds and beasts of prey relieve the living of that trouble. Even the bones, except a few of the most unmanage able parts, finds a sepulchre in the voracious maw of the hyæna."-EPHEMERIDES-note.

CHARACTER OF THE HYENA.-The voracity of this animal, its preference of the flesh of living carcasses to living prey, and its consequent propensity to disinter the dead, have bestowed upon it a character for ferocity not

It is an obscure and solitary animal, to be found chiefly in the most desolate and uncultivated parts of the torrid zone, of which it is a native.(g) It resides in the caverns of mountains, in the clefts of rocks, or in dens that it has formed for itself under the earth. Though taken never so young, it cannot be tamed ;* it lives by depredation, like the wolf, but is much stronger and more courageous. It sometimes attacks man, carries off cattle, follows the flock, breaks open the sheep-cots by night, and ravages with insatiable voracity. Its eyes shine by night; and it is asserted, not without great appearance of truth, that it sees better by night than by day. When destitute of other provision, it scrapes up the graves, and devours the dead bodies, how putrid soever.

Some have said that this animal changes the colour of its hair at will; others, that a stone was found in its eye, which, put under a man's tongue, gave him the gift of prophecy; some have said that he had no joints in the neck, which,

founded in truth. Ill-treatment will render
it extremely furious, but under opposite cir-
cumstances, it will exhibit the most remark
able degree of mildness and docility. Its
cage may be entered with impunity, it will
THE HYENA.-This animal has always
this feeling has been kept up,
not only by the showman's
stories of "that cruel and
untameable animal, that never
was yet tamed by man," but
by writers on natural history,
from Pliny to our own day.
That the hyæna can be tamed,
and most completely and ex-
tensively so, we have proof.

The cadaverous crocata," (the spotted hyæna) says Barrow, in his Travels in Southern Africa, "has lately been domesticated in the Sneuberg, where it is now considered one of the best hunters after game, and as faithful and diligent as any of the common sorts of domestic dogs."

Bishop Heber saw a gentleman in India, Mr. Traill,

who had a hyæna for several years, which followed him about like a dog, and fawned on those with whom he was acquainted; and the bishop mentions this as an instance, of "how much the poor hyæna is wronged, when he is described as untameable."

M. F. Cuvier notices an animal of this species that had been taken young at the Cape, and was tamed with difficulty. His keepers had a complete command over his affections. He one day escaped from his eage, and quietly walked into a cottage, where he was retaken without offering any violence. And yet the rage of this animal was very great when any strangers approached it. The fact is, the hyæna is extremely impatient of confinement; and feels a constant irritation at the constraint, which, in the den of a menagerie, is put upon his natural habits. An individual at Exeter 'Change

approach to fawn upon those it knows; and were it not for the prejudices of the public on this subject, a hyæna thus tamed, might be intrusted with as much liberty as a common dog.-GRIFFITH. been an object of aversion to mankind; and

some years ago, was so tame, as to be allowed
to walk about the exhibition room.
He was
afterwards sold to a person, who permitted
him to go with him into the fields, led with
a string. After these indulgences, he became
the property of a travelling showman, who
kept him constantly in a cage. From that
time his ferocity became quite alarming; he
would allow no stranger to approach him;
and he gradually pined away and died.

This is one, out of the many examples, of
the miseries which we inflict upon animals,
through an ignorance of their natural habits;
and the same ignorance perpetuates delusions,
which even men of talent like Goldsmith,
have adopted; and which still, in the in-
stance before us, leads many to say, with
him, "though taken ever so young, the
hyæna cannot be tamed."-ED.
(g) Buffon.

however, all quadrupeds are known to have; and some, that the shadow of the hyæna kept dogs from barking. These, among many other absurdities, have been asserted of this quadruped; and which I mention to show the natural disposition of mankind, to load those that are already but too guilty, with accumulated reproach.*