220 A PUZZLE FOR A NATURALIST. 
so on until the darkness, in which nothing is 
visible save bright luminous specs, like spheres 
of fire, seems crowded with cayotes. A child 
could frighten away the entire assembly of lurk- 
ing thieves; they lack the courage to face man, 
even when in hungry packs; if disagreeably im- 
portunate and noisy, it is only necessary to take 
a burning stick, rush at the glittering eyes, and, 
helter-skelter, off they scamper for the thicket. 
This most peculiar double voice begins with a 
deep-toned kind of howl, that, rapidly running 
up into higher barking sounds, trends off at last 
into a kind of scream or prolonged yell, issued in 
jerks. Every dog that the Indians have un- 
crossed by an imported breed in British Columbia 
has this voice, and I have often and often been 
deceived, mistaking the bay of an Indian dog 
for the cry of the cayote. Even now it would 
be puzzling to a naturalist, if visiting the interior 
of British Columbia, to trace the origin of the 
indigenous dog. As an instance of what I mean, 
my own dogs consisted of a Russian setter, ob- 
tained at Fort Rupert, originally from Sitka; a 
thorough-bred pointer, and a spaniel; beside 
these the men of the Commission had a bull-dog 
and a legion of nondescript curs. Tomy certain 
knowledge these dogs interbred in numerous in- 
