OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 427 



as to the barking of the wild dogs in Southern Africa, had intimated 

 that they might be feral dogs, or dogs once domesticated and afterward 

 becoming wild. That I find is not the case ; as in Vol. I. p. 152 (note), 

 he makes no allusion to a feral condition, distinctly calling them " wild 

 dogs." But what is the extent of the argument that can be drawn from 

 his authority as to the fact of wild dogs barking ? In the first place, 

 if it be argued from this that wild dogs bark, the argument would seem 

 to go too far; for the reason that the wild dogs seen by Gumming and 

 other travellers are not what we should call dogs ; in fact. Gumming 

 says (p. 152) that these animals seem "to form the connecting link 

 between the wolf and the hyena ; " this quotation indicates the so- 

 called dogs to belong to the genus Lycaon, like L. venaticus, the hunt- 

 ing hyena, a canine animal, but hardly more a dog than a hyena. 



He says that these dogs kept up a " chattering and growling," 

 making most unearthly sounds, and barking " something like collies ; " 

 but he does not tell us how nearly this resembled the barking of collies, 

 nor what is the bark of collies. Such indefiniteness of language is very 

 poor proof that his wild dogs barked, in the common acceptation of the 

 term. On another page of the book he is more definite, and says 

 that the voice of these wild dogs consists of three different kinds of 

 cry, each of which is used on special occasions : — first, a sharp, angry 

 hark, uttered when they suddenly behold a strange object; — second, a 

 kind of chattering, hke a number of monkeys, or men conversing when 

 their teeth are chattering violently with cold, emitted at night when 

 excited by any particular occurrence, " such as being barked at by 

 domestic dogs ; " (in regard to this the question arises, if the bark be 

 natural to them, why do they not return the compliment of domestic 

 dogs by harking instead of chattering ?) — and third, the most common, 

 a rallying note to bring the members of the pack together, — soft, 

 melodious, and distinguishable at a great distance, like the second note 

 of the cuckoo. Still, no great proof that these dogs barked, as the 

 term is generally understood. 



All canines have a natural voice, which may in certain cases resem- 

 ble a short, snapping bark, as in the prairie-wolf, the fox, &c. ; but no 

 one would be likely to confound this with the monotonous, oft-repeated 

 note of the domesticated dog. Though domesticated dogs would be 

 expected to howl like a wolf, or snap like a fox, or utter other natural 

 canine noises, according to their derivation, when terrified or in pain ; we 



