242 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
double, and considers it inferior in speed to the jackal and fox. It 
hunts chiefly by day. Six or eight, or more, unite to hunt down their 
victim, maintaining the chase more by power of smell than by the eye, 
and usually overcome by force and perseverance, though occasionally 
mixing stratagem with direct violence. He asserts that in hunting they 
bark like hounds, but their barking is in such a voice as no language 
can express. “Hawkeye,” however, states that the wild dog does not 
throw his tongue when in chase; he has heard them make a kind of 
tremulous whimper. 
The stories of their attacking and killing tigers must be received with 
caution, though it is certain they will harass both tigers and leopards. 
I wrote some time back, in ‘ Seonee’ : “ The natives in all parts of India 
declare that even tigers are attacked by them ; and we once heard a very 
circumstantial account given of a fight, which took place near the station 
of Seonee, between a tiger and a pack of these dogs, in which the latter 
were victors.. They followed him about cautiously, avoiding too close 
a contact, and worried him for three successive days—a statement which 
should be received with caution. We have, however, heard of them 
annoying a tiger to such an extent as to make him surrender to them the 
prey which he had killed for himself.” 
I agree with Jerdon in disbelieving the native superstition that the 
wild dog sheds a pungent secretion on his tail, and whisks it in the eyes 
of the animals it attacks, or covers the leaves of the bushes through 
which the victim graze, and then takes advantage of the temporary 
blindness thus caused ; but it is a curious fact that the idea is prevalent 
in all parts of India, north and south, and has been accepted by many 
writers on Indian sports. 
The wild dog dwells and breeds in holes and caves in rocks. The 
breeding season is from January to March, and about six whelps are 
born ata time. The mammez are more numerous than in any other 
canine—from twelve to fourteen. Jerdon notices that Mr. Wilson at 
Simla discovered a breeding-place in holes under some rocks, where 
evidently several females were breeding together. At such times they 
endeavour to hunt their game towards their den, and kill it as near to it 
as possible. 
GENUS VULPES. 
The foxes form a distinct group of the Canidz; their bodies are 
long, with short legs, the muzzle more lengthened in comparison and 
much sharper, and the pupil of the eye contracts vertically instead of 
circularly ; the tail is very bushy, with a gland at the base secreting a 
strong odorous substance. ‘The female has six mamme. ‘There are two 
