THE AMERICAN 

 HUNTING DOG 



CHAPTER I 



HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE HUNTING DOG 



THE dog dates back to geological times. In the 

 Pleistocene we have a great dog, twelve feet long, 

 distinct from the wolf of that period, whose skele 

 ton has come down to us nearly intact. While 

 dogs, wolves and foxes are closely allied, the in 

 terbreeding of wolves and dogs alone is well au 

 thenticated. There is no well established account 

 of any crossing of foxes and dogs, though I have 

 seen several small dogs in the South that looked 

 so exactly like foxes that one could almost believe 

 the negro's story that a true cross had been made. 

 It seems more improbable than a cross of wolf and 

 dog, for the bonal structure around the eye of 

 the fox differs materially from that of the wolf 

 and dog, and it is a question whether the pro 

 toplasmic cells would unite. 



The principal specific difference between the 

 fox species and the wolves and dogs is in the pupil 



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