DOG CHARACTERS 



milk in their stomachs. So that what with this habit 

 and the zeal for science exhibited in returning the com- 

 pliment by examining its stomach, the days of Proteles 

 will probably not be long in the land. Like most 

 carnivora Proteles has glands secreting a strongly 

 flavoured liquid at the root of the tail. In the case of 

 the skunk, these glands, well-known in that animal, are 

 doubtless for aggressive purposes. Most probably, as it 

 appears to us, the variety of flavours which these 

 glands produce in different animals are " recognition 

 odours," a more effective way, one would think, for 

 individuals of a species to recognize each other than the 

 white patches, and other recognition marks, seeing 

 that in mammals generally the sense of smell is superior 

 to that of sight. 



CAPE HUNTING DOG 



Dogs are usually gregarious animals as everyone 

 knows,"and the hunting of wolves in packs occurred 

 as an incident, or used to occur, in every juvenile book 

 of adventure, rightly impressing upon the mind this 

 fact in Natural History. The Lycaon pictus shows its 

 dog-like characters by the fact of its similar mode of 

 hunting, and not only by its anatomical structure. As 

 to the latter, it is important to note some of the features 

 which distinguish the dogs which form a distinct group 

 of the carnivora, from the cat-like and bear-like carni- 

 vores. As to colour, dogs do not, as a rule, produce spots 

 or stripes while cats do very generally, and the members 

 of the bear tribe frequently have ringed tails. It is true 

 that there are spotted dogs ; but these where not signs 

 of conviviality are artificial breeds. Dogs are digiti- 

 grade like the cats, but they have not retractile claws, 

 and they do not use their comparatively blunt claws 

 for tearing and scratching like the cat. Unlike the " cat 

 i' the adage," they do not dislike water. Cats are 



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