THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



FRENCir WAR noG: a courser whose winged feet spurn the earth 



A remarkable "flight" picture of one of the liaison couriers trained and used by the 

 French for emersencies when the telephone system in the front-line trenches was put out 

 of commission by enemy artillery (see pages 17, 55, and 73). 



Let us recall for a moment Fome of the 

 dogs \ve have noticed and see liow widely 

 they ditifer in appearance. For instance, 

 compare a giant Saint Bernard, weighing 

 hetween 250 and 300 pounds, with a tiny 

 Chihualiua, which may harely tip the 

 scales at a pound and a half and which 

 can stand on the outstretched hand of a 

 lady. Or look at the tall, lithe wolfhounds 

 and greyhounds, huilt to move like the 

 winds of heaven, and then turn toward 

 the short-legged, crooked-jointed bassets 

 and dachshund, and you will surely smile 

 and probably laugh out loud. 



Compare a Newfoundland or. better 

 still, an Eskimo dog, whose thick, dense 

 coat can withstand even the rigors of an 

 Arctic winter, with a hairless dog of 

 Mexico or -\frica, which looks cold even 

 in the middle of summer, 



.-\nd we note that such striking com- 

 parisons can be made not only in the gen- 

 eral appearance of the dogs, but in almost 



every featin-e of them. We see ears that 

 stand straight up like those of the Ger- 

 man shepherd, ears that fall forward at 

 the tips, like those of the collie, and ears 

 long and pendulous, like those of the 

 bloodhound, which extend far beyond the 

 tip of the nose and sometimes touch the 

 ground when the animal is on the trail. 



These and the endless other compari- 

 sons of the m:m}' different breeds may 

 make us hesitate to accept tlie conclusion 

 which naturalists, led bv Darwin, liave 

 arrived at, namely, that all domestic dogs 

 are descended from a few wild forms, 

 namely, wolves, jackals, and possibly 

 dingos (page 10). Yet it seems that the 

 naturalists are correct in their conclu- 

 sions, and that the many varieties found 

 at the bench show are but so many proofs 

 of what ]\Iaeterlinck, and Cuvier before 

 him, point out, namely, that the dog is the 

 one animal which can follow man all over 

 the earth and adapt himself to every cli- 



