200 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



Man. Schweinfurth saw a Hyaena Dog in a Seriba 

 in the Bongo country, "which was thoroughly tamed, 

 and was as docile as a Dog with its master." In 

 1859 I had the pleasure of finding an admirably kept 

 and nearly full-grown Hunting Dog in Leipzig. I 

 have seen several later and have also kept a few 

 myself. Their distinctive traits seem to me to be a 

 boisterous mischievousness, and an indomitable habit 

 of biting, perhaps without the intention of hurting 

 anybody and only as an outlet to the fidgety live- 

 liness of their ever active spirits. As soon as a 

 Hyaena Dog is excited, its every nerve quivers and 

 moves. Its remarkably active disposition first as- 

 sumes the semblance of exaggerated mirth, and then, 

 a moment later, strikes one as a savage, sanguinary 

 mania for biting. Grandville represents a Wolf as 

 declaring: " Barking is of no avail; one has to bite." 



HYJENA DOG. The slender, long limbed animal in the picture, sometimes also called the Cape Hunting 



Dog, is the representative of a distinct sub-order of the Wolf species. As will be seen from the picture, it is hand- 

 somely marked, has long Hound-like limbs, a tail with a bushy tip, and a form that suggests both agility and 

 strength, qualities that are requisite to the tracking of the Antelope, which is the favorite prey of these wild Dogs. 

 {Canis piclus.) 



If he had known the Hyasna Dog, he would, doubt- 

 less, have ascribed this sentiment to that animal. 



The Indian Sykes has described the Indian Wild 

 Wild Dog or Dog, or Kolsun, which he considered 

 Kolsun. the progenitor of all domesticated 

 Dogs. This animal bears, according to his account, 

 a greater resemblance to the Greyhound than to the 

 Wolf or Jackal, and belongs to a third sub-order of 

 the Wolves (Cyon), whose range is co-extensive with 

 that of the Tiger. It has much the same propor- 

 tions as a medium-sized Greyhound and its hair is of 

 uniform thickness, rather short on the body but long 

 on the tail. The color is a beautiful brownish or 

 russet red merging into brownish gray, light on the 

 under surface of the body and dark on the snout, 

 ears, feet and extremity of the tail. 



This Dog is called Son-Ram-kutta, Djangli, Kol- 

 sun, Kolsa, etc., in India, Buansu, etc., in the Hima- 

 layas (Ca/iis or Cyon dukkunensis and Primavus), and 



is found all over the Himalaya country from the val- 

 ley of the upper Indus and Cashmere as far east as 

 Assam, in eastern Thibet, and in all the wood} - re- 

 gions of East India. 



The Kolsun or Buansu is a genuine arboreal animal 

 and inhabits principally extensive forests, but some- 

 times is also found in jungles; while in the northern 

 and elevated portions of his native country, where 

 forests are lacking, he has to content himself with 

 the open country and rocks. He does not seem to be 

 plentiful anywhere, and as he drives the game away 

 and makes it very restless by his mode of hunting, 

 he does not stay long in one locality. He hunts in 

 packs, which were formerly said to comprise fifty or 

 sixty of these animals, but which, according to mod- 

 ern observers, seldom include twenty, and gener- 

 ally number only from two to twelve. The Indian 

 Wild Dog usually pursues 

 his game noiselessly, and 

 his voice is heard only at 

 rare intervals. He does 

 not bark, but the sound he 

 makes is rather a plaintive 

 whine. All accounts agree 

 as to his exceedingly good 

 hunting qualities. In his 

 mode of hunting he resem- 

 bles the Hyaena Dog. As 

 soon as the pack has found 

 some animal that will serve 

 for prey, they pursue it 

 with the utmost persever- 

 ance, and sometimes divide 

 into smaller packs in order 

 to cut off its escape on all 

 sides; and are thus said to 

 be able to overtake even 

 the fleetest - footed Stag. 

 Their chief attack is not 

 made from the front and is 

 not directed at the throat, 

 but rather at the flanks and 

 the soft hinder part of the 

 body, which they tear by 

 rapid bites during the 

 chase, so that the intes- 

 tines protrude and the ani- 

 mal soon succumbs. 



The Malay T h e Malay 

 Wild Dog, or Wild Dog or 

 Adjag. Adjag ( Cants 

 or Cyon rut Hans ) is smaller 

 and weaker than his Indian relative and has a yel- 

 lowish Fox-red color, which is lightest on the under 

 surface of the body. The tail is tipped with black. 

 The Adjag does not seem to differ in any marked 

 degree from the Kolsun, except that there are no 

 accounts to the effect that he preys upon large and 

 strong animals. He is a native of Sumatra and Java, 

 ranging, so far as his haunts are now known, from the 

 sea level to about three thousand feet above, preying 

 on rather peculiar game on the sea beach, as Jung- 

 huhn's observations show: "On the 14th of May, 

 1846, I came out of the bushes covering the coast of 

 the Tandjung-Sodong. Looking at the wide beach 

 before me, I thought I gazed on a battlefield. Hun- 

 dreds of skeletons of huge Tortoises lay strewn on 

 the sand. Some had been bleached by the sun so 

 as to present nothing but smooth bones, some were 

 still filled with decaying, foul-smelling intestines, and 

 some were yet fresh and bloody ; but all lay on their 



