\VII I) UOGS.J 



rOli MOUNTAIN, Fli:i.D, AND i-'AUM. 



[wild doos. 



Kolsun, is the same aa too Hu'imsu of Nopaul ; 

 the ekulU and extiTiiui chanu-tiTS oxhibitinj? 

 precisely the snmo fortnation niul features. 

 That gentleman further observes, that this doj; 

 ditfers from every wild species hitlierto de- 

 scribed. Its head is compressed and elonn;ated ; 

 its nose not very sharp ; the eyes are oblique, 

 the pupils rouuii, the irides light brown. Tho 

 expression of the countenance is that of a 

 coarse, ill-natured Persian greyhound, without 

 anv resemblance to the jackal, tlie fox, or the 

 wolf; and, in consequence, essentially distinct 

 from the Cants Qtiao, or Sumatrettsis, of Gen- 

 eral llardwicke. The cars are long, erect, and 

 somewhat rounded at the top ; the limbs are 

 remarkably large and strong in relation to the 

 bulk of the animal, which is intermediate in 

 size between the wolf and jackal. It hunts in 

 packs ; and in the stomach of one killed was 

 found a portion of tlie Nylghau antelope. 



Here, then, is a genuine wild dog, called in 

 the diflerent mountain districts it inhabits, 

 Budnsu, Dhale, and Kolsun, of a sandy-red, 

 or rufus colour, and destitute of the last small 

 molar of the lower jaw. Colonel Baber, in a 

 note subjoined to Colonel Syke's description 

 in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, 

 states, that it was often seen by him on the 

 western coast, and in the Balaghat district, 

 where it is numerous. " As often," he adds, 

 *' as I have met with them, they have invari- 

 ably been in packs of from thirty to perhaps 

 sixty. They must be very formidable, as all 

 animals are very much afraid of them. Fre- 

 quently remains of hogs and deer have been 

 brought to me, which had been taken over- 

 night by these wild dogs. The natives assert 

 that they kill tigers and chetahs, and there is 

 no doubt of the fact. It is quite correct that 

 they are found in the Nilgiris, though only 

 in the western parts. I, myself, was followed, 

 while travelling between the Paitera river and 

 Naddibatt, a distance of eight or nine miles, by 

 a pack of them"; and had I not repeatedly 

 fired off my pistols, they would certainly have 

 carried away three or four terriers and Spanish 

 dogs that were following me at the time. Two 

 or three times I succeeded in getting young 

 ones ; but I did net keep them longer than 

 three or four weeks, they were so very wild, as 

 well as shy. It was only at night they would 

 eat, and then most voraciously." 



The Ciiuis Quao of General llardwicke, id a 

 red woKijdi.lookiiig dog in the Kaiiighur HilU; 

 and tho Caiiis Siiinafrcnsis is a wild do" of tho 

 same general character, found in Sumatra, but 

 with ears less acutely pointed. 



All accounts of wild dogs concur in stating 

 the fact, that their colour is always sandy- 

 yellow or red, a colour occasionally seen in 

 animals of the domestic breeds, such as in one 

 of the species of the Scotch terrier. That these 

 wild dogs are genuine, we think there cannot 

 be the slightest doubt ; and, if so, what be- 

 comes of the wolf theory of Mr. Bell ? Be- 

 sides, we cannot see, by what possible power 

 of inter-breeding, either a setter, or a spaniel, 

 or a " Maltese lion dog," could be produced 

 from a wolf. At the " National Dog Show," 

 held at Islington, in 1862, every species of 

 dog was exhibited, the whole comprising up- 

 wards of eight hundred specimens, and every 

 one showing some different character, which 

 made it distinct from another. Here the 

 huge boar-hound, down to the toy-terrier, of 

 2|- lbs. weight, was to be seen ; and is it 

 possible that the original of all these was a 

 hungry gaunt wolf, with the sanguinary 

 qualities of the tiger, and the ferocity of the 

 hya>na ? Tho same, or similar arguments 

 might possibly apply to the wild dogs of India ; 

 but inter-breeding from species of tho same 

 kind, is much more likely to produce variety, 

 in the lapse of ages, than inter- breeding from 

 species originally distinct, although bearing a 

 close resemblance to each other. We do not, 

 however, when we contend that these wild 

 dogs are genuine, pretend to assert that any of 

 them are the originals of any one of our 

 domestic breeds. All we wish is to prove 

 that there are genuine wild dogs ; which fact 

 being established, the necessity of looking to 

 the wolf as the origin of the dog falls to the 

 ground, for these wild dogs are not wolves. 



In the next place, though the wolf and dog 

 will breed together, their progeny, if fertile, as 

 Buffon seems to prove, is sc in a low degree 

 only, the mixed race gradually failing, and 

 becoming extinct. It has also yet to be seen, 

 whether there exist a race of true wolves, the 

 descendants of dogs, which have returned to 

 their natural state, and reassumed their 

 original characters. If the wild dogs, described 

 above, and regarded as genuine, be really the 



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