CYON. 145 



but in the Upper Indus valley and Tibet must inhabit open 

 hilly country, as there is no forest. It is, as a rule, diurnal, but 

 may move about by night also. It is thoroughly predatory, living, 

 as a rule, on the animals killed by itself and the associated mem- 

 bers of the same pack ; but probably, like other canines, feeding 

 upon carrion and on vegetable food at times. McMaster, to whom 

 we are indebted for some very good notes on the species, found 

 that an animal kept in confinement ate herbs, grass, and leaves of 

 various kinds greedily, " not as dogs do when ill, but with a keen 

 relish." 



All forms of the genus Cyon hunt in packs, usually from six to 

 twelve, but sometimes as many as twenty in number, and live 

 principally upon deer of various kinds and wild pigs in India, and 

 on wild sheep and antelopes in Tibet. Many sambar and spotted 

 deer are killed by them, whilst occasionally nilgai and Indian 

 antelopes fall victims. Wild dogs avoid the neighbourhood of 

 man, and consequently but rarely attack domestic animals; 

 occasionally, however, they kill sheep, goats, and cattle, and 

 Jerdon mentions one instance, and McM aster another, of their 

 pulling" down a tame buffalo. I came across a third case my- 

 self in the jungles east of Baroda, and I was curious to see 

 how so large an animal had been destroyed. There were but 

 a few tooth-marks about the nose and throat, and some of the 

 pack had evidently attacked the buffalo in front, whilst others 

 tore it open. This is probably their usual way of killing large 

 animals ; they have been seen to snap at the flank of a sambar 

 running. 



The statement made by Hodgson, apparently on native infor- 

 mation, that wild dogs give tongue when hunting is denied by the 

 excellent observer and sportsman Colonel Hamilton, who wrote 

 under the name of " Hawkeye," and who is quoted by McMaster. 

 I have twice met with these animals in the act of hunting, once on 

 the Nilgiris and a second time east of Eaipur in Chhatisgarh, and 

 in neither case did I hear any sound. They are said, however, to 

 howl at night. 



Throughout India there is a general belief that these wild dogs 

 hunt and kill tigers. Whilst not absolutely rejecting the tale, I 

 must say that I think it improbable. The wild d6g drives away all 

 deer and other wild animals on which tigers feed, and probably 

 the latter follow their prey. At the same time, some of the 

 accounts of wild dogs attacking tigers are singularly circumstantial. 

 Captain Baldwin, in 'The Large and Small Game of Bengal' 

 (p. 19), gives the particulars of one case, apparently as well 

 authenticated as an account can be that rests upon the evidence 

 of villagers inhabiting wild parts of the country. In this case the 

 remains of a tiger that had been devoured were said to have been 

 found together with three dead wild dogs. The same writer 

 (p. 108) describes an instance, said to have been witnessed by an 

 English sportsman, of an attack by wild dogs on the Himalayan 



