THE GROUP OF THE FOXES. 



153 



of admiration for these savage animals, which, 

 overwhelming each other in the fury of their 

 career, scour the plains in pursuit of the 

 antelopes, and pay no heed to the wounds 

 which the buffalo inflicts on them with his 

 horns and hoofs. After striking down their 

 prey they are said to devour, not only the 

 object of their pursuit, but also those of their 



comrades which have fallen on the field of 

 battle. They devastate the flocks of the 

 colonists when these are not well watched, 

 and even attack man. 



Tame Cape hunting-dogs have been seen, 

 and it is recorded that certain tribes in the 

 interior of Africa train them for hunting, 

 catching them young in the holes which the 





Fig. 70. The Cape Hunting-dog or Wild Dog (Lycaon f ictus). 



mothers dig for their cubs. Their intro- 

 duction into Europe for employment in great 

 hunting parties has even been recommended. 

 The horrible stench which these animals 

 diffuse, as well as their inability to stand the 

 severity of our climate, will, in our opinion, 

 place insuperable obstacles in the way of the 

 accomplishment of this acclimatization, which 

 is besides altogether undesirable. 



" Among the flocks and herds [of South Africa] 

 there is no animal whose ravages are more dreaded 

 than those of the wild dog. Fortunately their visits 

 are rare, for I have known as many as fifty or sixty 

 sheep missing after one, though, of course, not a 

 third of that number had been killed by them; 



and so daring are they that I have seen them dash 

 into a herd of cattle feeding not a hundred yards 

 from the house, and drive out a beast, disappear 

 over a rise in the ground with it, and kill it and 

 pick its bones before we could get the saddles on 

 our horses and follow them. It is a marvellous 

 sight to see a pack of them hunting, drawing cover 

 after cover, their sharp bell-like note ringing through 

 the air, while a few of the fastest of their number 

 take up their stations along the expected line of 

 the run the wind, the nature of the ground, and 

 the habits of the game all taken into consideration 

 with the most wonderful skill; and then to see 

 them after they have found, going at their long 

 unswerving gallop, so close together that a sheet 

 might cover them, while those who had been 

 stationed, or had stationed themselves, it is hard 



20 



