306 



DOG. 



peccaries and other small mammalia are plentiful, 

 these dogs abound in the wild state, lodging during 

 the day in burrows, which they dig in the ground, 

 and seeking their food in the night. The old ones 

 are not susceptible of attachment, but those which are 

 taken young can be so far tamed that they are not 

 disposed to join their fellows in the woods ; but they 

 are not very sagacious or very tractable. The temp- 

 tations are so great, owing to the abundance of food, 

 and the close and cool cover during the burning heat 

 of the day, in the thick forests of America, that it is 

 difficult to keep any predatory animal out of these 

 forests; and in Surinam and the adjacent settlements, 

 where, in consequence of the number of rats that 

 infest the sugar manufactories, cats are in much re- 

 quest as domestic servants, the people are obliged to 

 cut their ears close by the head in order to keep them 

 at home. This has the desired effect both in the dry 

 weather and in the rain, as the leaves and branches 

 tickle the inside of the ear in the one case, and the 

 rain gets into it in the other, both of which is very 

 much disliked. 



NORTH AMERICAN DOG. This variety differs a 

 little from the former; its expression is milder, and he 

 is understood to have a keener scent, and to be more 

 active in the chase, not being so much a dog of the 

 woods as the South American, and being under the 

 necessity of chasing swifter-footed game. 



From these varieties we can form some idea of a 

 dog in something like a state of nature ; and it is 

 worthy of remark, that though these dogs inhabit 

 regions which are almost the opposites of each other 

 in longitude, and are found both to the north and to 

 the south of the equator, yet there is a very great 

 family likeness among them ; so much, indeed, that 

 we can hardly regard them as any thing else than 

 climatal varieties. They are probably the most 

 tropical of all the dogs in their present distribution ; 

 though it is inferred from the shape of the bones in 

 the fossil specimens which have been met with in 

 Europe, that this description of dog, or a variety 

 nearly approaching to it, was the one which lived 

 coeval with the more powerful carnivorous animals, 

 and the larger pachydermatous animals in that part 

 of the world. This is rather a curious fact in natural 

 history, and would lead us to infer that certain species 

 or varieties of animals have, in the course of ages, 

 belonged as much to eras in the history of the world 

 as to geographical positions. 



Those which we have enumerated, with shades of 

 difference in other localities, which would have been 

 much too minute for popular purposes, are all the 

 dogs which we consider as remaining in any thing 

 like an original state, that is, a state in which their 

 manners and their forms have not been to a great 

 extent modified by the treatment which they nave 

 received from their human masters. Or, if they are 

 dogs which have been left to themselves, then they 

 have been so left long enough for acquiring a far more 

 uniform and unchangeable character in their localities 

 than those dogs which are in a state of complete do- 

 mestication. We shall now give a short enumeration 

 of the leading domesticated ones which belong to the 

 first division, or those with the elongated muzzle, anci 

 diminished capacity of skull, acuteness of scent, and 

 tractability and sagacity. 



There are two sub-divisions of these domestic 

 varieties, one of which, the greyhound of the High- 

 lands of Scotland, or, perhaps, the Albanian dog 



s the type; and another, of which the common grey- 

 mund is typical. The chief distinctions of character 

 )etween these are, that the first hunt their prey either 

 singly or in packs, and can find it by the scent as well 

 as the eye, though not very readily ; and the second 

 lunt singly, arid find their prey almost exclusively 

 by the eye. 



THE HIGHLAND GREYHOUND. This is a very 

 jowerful dog, equally staunch and faithful; and, when 

 he Scottish mountains swarmed with stags and roes, 

 t was held in high estimation, as being capable of fol- 

 owing the deer over surfaces top rough and fatiguing 

 or the ordinary hound* of the low country. The 



The Highland Greyhound. 



general aspect of the Highland hound is commanding 

 and fierce. His head is long, and muzzle rather sharp ; 

 his ears pendulous, but not long ; his eyes large, keen, 

 and penetrating, half concealed among the long, stiff, 

 and bristly hair, with which his face is covered ; his 

 body is very strong and muscular, deep chested, taper- 

 ing towards the loins, and his back slightly arched ; 

 his hind quarters are furnished with large prominent 

 muscles, and his legs are long, strong-boned, and 

 straight a combination of qualities which gives him 

 that speed and long duration in the chase for which 

 he is so eminently distinguished. His hair is wiry 

 and shaggy, of a reddish sand colour, mixed with 

 white ; his tail is rough, which he carries somewhat 

 in the manner of a staghound, but not quite so erect. 

 This is the dog formerly used by the Highland chief- 

 tains of Scotland in their grand hunting parties ; anil 

 is, in all probability, the same noble dog used in the 

 time of Ossian. The Scottish highland greyhound 

 will either hunt in packs or singly. A remarkably 

 fine and large dog of this description was a long time 

 in the possession of Sir Walter Scott, bart., and was 

 a most appropriate guardian for his unique and mag- 

 nificent seat at Abbotsford. This splendid dog was 

 presented to Sir Walter Scott, as a mark of the highest 

 respect and esteem by the late chieftain, Macdonell 

 of Glengarry. He preserved this race of dogs with 

 much care ; and, in order to prevent the degeneracy 

 which arises from consanguinity, he was in the habit of 

 crossing the breed with the bloodhound from Cuba. 



