many fishes, usually marked by liveliness of action. ( 1 ) A pickerel, especially the Eastern green pickerel. (2) One of the Californiaii rCM-k- lish (ISebaslodes paucispinis) . (3) Kither of two West Indian amberfishes (Heriula Lulandi or Herioki Dumerili), more often called "amber jacks.' (4) Any of various scads and crevalles, especially the jurel (q.v.).
JACK, Captain. A picturesque character in American frontier life about the middle of the eighteenth century, called also the Black Hunter or Black Rifle. After the massacre of his family and burning of his home on the
Juniata by Indians, he devoted himself unceasingly to vengeance, and gathered about him a band of daring men, who in Indian dress engaged in a relentless pursuit of all Indians and in the defense of white settlers. The name is applied also to Ki-ent-poos, the principal leader of the Modoc Indians (q.v.) in northern California in the war of 1872-73. He acquired notoriety by
the deliberate murder of General Canby while attending a peace conference, for which he and others concerned in the attack on the commissioners were hanged, on the final suppression of the outbreak.
JACKAL (OF. jackal, jakal, Fr., Sp. chacal,
from Ar. jat/al, from Pers. shaghal. from Skt.
srgala, jackal). The common name of a number
of species of the genus Canis, abounding in Asia,
Africa, and Southeastern Europe. They agree
in all their most important characters with
wolves and dogs (see Caxid.k). although the
form and tail are somewhat fox-like. The head
is narrow and the muzzle pointed. The ears are
erect and rather large. The tail is not so long as
in foxes, but is almost equally bushy. All the
jackals are of small size, as compared with
wolves, seldom exceeding 15 inches in height at
the shoulder. Their colors are buff and tawny,
more or less grizzled: the tip of tlie tail is
always dark. They make holes for themselves
in the ground, or take possession of such as
already exist among rocks or ruins: and in these
they spend the day. not venturing abroad, as a
rule, till the dusk of evening. They hunt during
the night in troops, and their bowlings are de-
scribed by all who have heard them as pecu-
liarly unpleasant. The notion that the Jackal is
the 'lion's provider' is one of the exploded fables
of natural history, although it may have some
foundation in the lion's occasionally following a
troop of jackals in full cry. and appropriating
'the lion's share.' .Tackals are not only ready to
devour any animal which they can rundown, but
any carrion that they may" find. They follow
armies; they dig up the ill-buried dead; they
rob hen-roost-s and outhouses: but they are as
omnivorous a-s domestic dogs, and eat farinaceous
or other vegetable food when it comes in their
way; they are even said, like foxes, to enter
vineyards and devour the grapes. They have a
verj- offensive smell, which, however, is said to
diminish through domestication, and they are
domesticated without difficulty. Everyvhere
jackals interbreed with native dogs, and doubt-
less they contributed essentially to the earlv
etnck. The foregoing applies especially to the
'common' jackal (f'nnis atireii.i). which is spread,
with many variations, throughout the semi-desert
region from the Sudan to Afghanistan. India
and Burma, and also is common on the plains of
JACKDAW OF RHEIMS.
Greece and European Turkey. In Northern
India it is known as "pheal,' and in Southern
India as hhalu,' and many weird stories are
told of it and its relations to the tiger. The
African variety is rather larger and grayer than
the A.siatic.
The black-backed jackel or 'tenlie' (Canis meso-
■melaji) is a very distinct species, of bright colora-
tion. The sides and limbs are red to reddish
yellow; the back and end of the tail are black.
It is widely distributed throughout Eastern and
Southern Africa, and its handsome fur is highly
prized. A third .frican species, the side-striped
jackal {Canis adustus) . called "rubuyo' on the
West Coast, and "canduc" eastwardly. is widely
scattered south of the equator, and differs from
the others in having rather shorter and much
darker ears, and the sides marked with one or
more curving light bands, bordered with black —
a feature, however, which is highly variable.
Compare Dog, Fox, Wolf; and see Plate of
Foxes an» .Tackai.s.
JACK-AMEND-ALL. A nickname given to
Jack Cade ( q.v.).
JACK AND JILL. A nursery song. The
name Jill is a corruption of the Norman Julienne,
once common in England in the form Gillian.
The prototypes of Jack and .Jill in Xorse
mythologj- arc two children rescued bj- the moon
from their father, who forced them to draw
water all day. The Scandinavian peasantry still
see in the spots on the face of the moon the
chililren with (heir pail.
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK. . nur-
sery legend found in the fiplk-lore of many peo-
ples. The harp has been interpreted as the wind,
the bags of treasures as the rain, the red hen as
the sun.
JACKASS. A domestic donkey; often abbre-
viated into 'jack,' especially to designate an
entire male. Sec paragraph Dnnley under Ass.
JACKASS KINGFISHEB. See Laughing
Jackass.
JACKASS PENGUIN. Any penguin of the
genus Spheniscus, so called from their cry, which
is similar to the braying of a donkey. See
Penguin.
JACK BRAG. A pretentious character in
Theodore Hook's novel of the same name (1837).
JACKDAW. A familiar Old World crow
tCorvus moneduln) . very widely distributed in
Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is 13 or
A inches long, and deep black in color, appearing
dark gray on the neck, but with a steel-blue
gloss elsewhere. It frequents towns and villages,
and makes its home in towers, steeples, old
chimneys, and similar places. It is more or less
gregarious and social, is easily domesticated, and
exhibits great shrewdness in all its actions.
Like other crows, it has considerable power of
mimicry, and makes an interesting and often an
amusing pet. It builds a large nest of sticks
and twigs, lined with wool and other soft sub-
stances, and lays four to seven eggs, similar to
those of American crows.
JACKDAW OF RHEIMS. remz. The. One
of the best-known of the Innoldshi/ Legends, the
story of a jackdaw which stole the ring of a
cardinal, and. through the curse laid by the cardi-
nal on the thief, was aflBicted until he restored
