28 



DOGS. 



Chap. I. 



Nillson, 32 a wolf-wlielp reared by a bitch, barks. I. Geoffrey 

 Saint-Hi] aire exhibited a jackal which barked with the same 

 tone as any common dog. 33 An interesting account has been 

 given by Mr. Gr. Clarke 34 of some dogs run wild on Juan de 

 Nova, in the Indian Ocean ; " they had entirely lost the 

 faculty of barking ; they had no inclination for the company 

 of other dogs, nor did they acquire their voice," during a 

 captivity of several months. On the island they " congregate 

 in vast packs, and catch sea-birds with as much address as 

 foxes could display." The feral dogs of La Plata have not 

 become dumb ; they are of large size, hunt singly or in packs, 

 and burrow holes for their young. 35 In these habits the 

 feral dogs of La Plata resemble wolves and jackals ; both of 

 which hunt either singly or in packs, and burrow holes. 36 

 These feral dogs have not become uniform in colour on Juan 

 Fernandez, Juan de Nova, or La Plata. 37 In Cuba the feral 

 dogs are described by Poeppig as nearly all mouse-coloured, 

 with short ears and light-blue eyes. In St. Domingo, Col. 

 Ham. Smith says 3S that the feral dogs are very large, like 

 greyhounds, of a uniform pale blue-ash, with small ears, and 

 large light-brown eyes. Even the wild Dingo, though so 

 anciently naturalised in Australia, " varies considerably in 

 colour," as I am informed by Mr. P. P. King : a half-bred 

 Dingo reared in England 39 showed signs of wishing to 

 burrow. 



From the several foregoing facts we see that reversion in the 

 feral state gives no indication of the colour or size of the aboriginal 



32 Quoted by L. Lloyd in 'Field 

 Sports of North of Europe,' vol. i. p. 

 387. 



33 Quatrefages, ' Soc. d'Acclimat.,' 

 May 11th, 1863, p. 7. 



34 ' Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' 

 vol. xv., 1845, p. 140. 



35 Azara, ' Voyages dans l'Amer. 

 Merid.,' torn. i. p. 381 ; his account is 

 fully confirmed by Rengger. Quatre- 

 fages gives an account of a bitch 

 brought from Jerusalem to France 

 which burrowed a hole and littered 

 in it. See ' Discours, Exposition des 

 Races Canines,' 1865, p. 3. 



36 With respect to wolves burrow- 

 ing holes, see Richardson, 'Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana,' p. 64 ; and Bech- 

 stein, 'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands,' 

 b. i. s. 617. 



37 See Poeppig, ' Reise in Chile,' 

 B. i. s. 290 ; Mr. G. Clarke, as above ; 

 and Rengger, s. 155. 



38 Dogs, ' Nat. Library,' vol. x. p. 

 121 ; an endemic South American dog 

 seems also to have become feral in this 

 island. See Gosse's ' Jamaica,' p. 340. 



39 Low, ' Domesticated Animals ' 

 p. 650. 



