met with in the date territories of Africa, where the animals are
hunted for their skins, which are afterwards sold at Mecca, and then
exported to India. Bruce kept his animal alive for several months, and
took a drawing of it in water colours, of the natural size, a copy of
which, on transparent paper, was clandestinely made by his servant.
Mr. Brander, into whose hands the _Fennecus_ fell after Bruce left
Algiers, gave an account of it in "Some Swedish Transactions," but
refused to let the figure be published, the drawing having been
unfairly obtained.[3] Bruce asserts that this animal is described in
many Arabian books, under the name of _El Fennec_, which appellation
he conceives to be derived from the Greek word for a palm or
date-tree.

The favourite food of Bruce's Fennec was dates or any sweet fruit; but
it was also very fond of eggs; when hungry it would eat bread,
especially with honey or sugar. His attention was immediately
attracted if a bird flew near him, and he would watch it with an
eagerness that could hardly be diverted from its object; but he was
dreadfully afraid of a cat. Bruce never heard that he had any voice.
During the day he was inclined to sleep, but became restless and
exceedingly unquiet as night came on. The above Fennec was about ten
inches long, the tail five inches and a quarter, near an inch of it on
the tip, black. The colour of the body was dirty white, bordering on
cream colour; the hair on the belly rather whiter, softer and longer
than on the rest of the body. His look was sly and wily; he built his
nest on trees, and did not burrow in the earth.

Naturalists, especially those of France, were long induced to suspect
the truth of Bruce's description of this animal; but a specimen from
the interior of Nubia, and preserved in the museum at Frankfort, has