EARLY DOGS 



varieties of the Domestic dog. Of this no better example can be 

 cited than the Esquimaux dog, described and illustrated elsewhere 

 in this volume. Between this dog and the Grey Arctic Wolves 

 there is a very great resemblance so great a resemblance, in fact, 

 that a pack of the dogs were once mistaken for wolves by the 

 well-known Arctic traveller Sir John Richardson. Yet another 

 example may be given : the dogs of the Hare Indians differ but 

 very slightly from the Prairie Wolf, or Coyote (C. latrans\ one of 

 the species that Darwin suggests as a remote ancestor of the 

 Domestic dog. 



As bearing upon the subject, the remarks of that eminently 

 practical naturalist Mr. A. D. Bartlett (the late Superintendent of 

 the Zoological Society's Gardens), as given in the Zoological Society's 

 Proceedings for 1890, are most interesting. He says: "The 

 extraordinary and wonderful number of well-marked breeds of the 

 Domesticated dog, and their variations of size, form, and colour, 

 render any attempt to account for their origin a task of some 

 difficulty ; but as many wild dogs appear to be descendants of 

 Domestic dogs, it is necessary to endeavour to account for the 

 origin of the Domestic race. There can be no doubt that the 

 Esquimaux dogs are reclaimed or domesticated wolves. All wolves, 

 if taken young and reared by man, are tame, playful, and exhibit a 

 fondness for those who feed and attend to them. The same may 

 be said of all the species of jackals. This being so, it is highly 

 probable that both wolves and jackals were for many ages found in 

 the company of man, and that, owing to this association, the different 

 species of these animals may have bred together and become mixed. 

 A mixed breed would at once develop a new variety. A variety 

 once commenced would in all probability in a few generations 

 undergo many changes, especially if any well-marked variety should 

 occur. Nothing would be more natural than to suppose that the 

 owners of this variety would endeavour to increase its number, 

 especially if it were found to possess useful qualities. 



The fashion of hunting led in all probability to the separation of 

 Domestic dogs into two distinct groups those that hunt by sight as 

 distinguished from those that hunt by scent ; for there can be no 

 doubt that at a very early period dogs were used in the chase of 

 wild animals. . . . The utility of dogs being established at a very 

 early period would naturally lead to great care being bestowed upon 

 them, and doubtless to the breeding of them in a domestic state. 

 This would lead to the production of the many breeds and varieties 

 that have been developed, and thus varieties may have been 

 perpetuated by the mixing and crossing of breeds originally obtained 

 from distinct wild animals." 



Mr. Bartlett then goes on to give his experiences in regard to the 

 crossing of wolves and jackals with Domestic dogs, and states that 



