n doubtful whether the jackal of the East be not the creature alluded
to, in the various passages of the Sacred Writings which make allusion
to the artfulness and subtlety of the "fox."

[Footnote 1: Canis Aureus, _Linn._]

These faculties they display in a high degree in their hunting
expeditions, especially in the northern portions of the island, where
they are found in the greatest numbers. In these districts, where the
wide sandy plains are thinly covered with brushwood, the face of the
country is diversified by patches of thick jungle and detached groups
of trees, that form insulated groves and topes. At dusk, or after
nightfall, a pack of jackals, having watched a hare or a small deer
take refuge in one of these retreats, immediately surround it on all
sides; and having stationed a few to watch the path by which the game
entered, the leader commences the attack by raising the unearthly cry
peculiar to their race, and which resembles the sound _okkay!_
loudly and rapidly repeated. The whole party then rush into the
jungle, and drive out the victim, which generally falls into the
ambush previously laid to entrap it.

A native gentleman[1], who had favourable opportunities of observing the
movements of these animals, informed me, that when a jackal has brought
down his game and killed it, his 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 carries it
away, followed by his companions. But if a man be in sight, or any other
animal to be avoided, my informant has seen the jackal seize a coco-nut
husk in his mouth, or any similar substance, and fly at full speed, as
if eager to carry off his pretended prize, returning for the real booty
at some more convenient season.

[Footnote 1: Mr. D. de Silva Gooneratne.]

They are subject to hydrophobia, and instances are frequent in Ceylon
of cattle being bitten by them and dying in consequence.

[Illustration: JACKAL'S SKULL AND HORN]

An excrescence is sometimes found on the head of the jackal, consisting
of a small horny cone about half an inch in length, and concealed by a
tuft of hair. This the natives call _narrie-comboo_; and they aver that
this "Jackal's Horn" only grows on the head of the leader of the
pack