28 DOGS. Chap. L 



Nillson,^- a wolf-wlielp reared by a bitch barks. I. Geoifroy 

 Saiat-Hilaire exhibited a jackal which barked with the same 

 tone as any common dog.^'^ An interesting account has been 

 given by Mr. G. Clarke ^* of some dogs run wild on Juan de 

 Nova, in the Indian Ocean ; " they had entirely lost the 

 faculty of barking ; they had no inclination for the company 

 of other dogs, nor did they acquire their voice." during a 

 captivity of several months. On the island they " congregate 

 in vast packs, and catch sea-birds with as much address as 

 foxes could display." The feral dogs of La Plata have not 

 become dumb ; they are of large size, hunt singly or in packs, 

 and burrow holes for their young.^^ In these habits the 

 feral dogs of La Plata resemble wolves and jackals ; both of 

 which hunt either singly or in packs, and burrow holes.^^ 

 These feral dogs have not become uniform in colour on Juan 

 Fernandez, Juan de Nova, or La Plata.^' In Cuba the fei'al 

 dogs are described by Poeppig as nearly all mouse-coloured, 

 with short ears and light-blue eyes. In St. Domingo, Col. 

 Ham. Smith says ^^ that the feral dogs are very large, like 

 greyhounds, of a uniform pale blue-ash, with small ears, and 

 large light-brown eyes. Even the wild Dingo, though so 

 anciently naturalised in Australia, " varies considerably in 

 colour," as I am informed by Mr. P. P. King : a half-bred 

 Dingo reared in England ^^ showed signs of wishing to 

 burrow. 



From the several foregoing facts we see that reversion in the 

 feral state gives no indication of the colour or size of the aboriginal 



^^ Quoted by L. Lloyd in ' Field ^^ With respect to wolves burrow- 

 Sports of North of Europe,' vol. i. p. ing holes, see Richardson, ' Fauna 

 387. Boreali-Americana,' p. 64 ; and Bech- 



^ Quatrefages, ' Soc. d'Acclinaat.,' stein, 'XaturgeschichteDeutschlands,' 



May 11th, 1863, p. 7. b. i. s. 617. 



" ' Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' ^^ See Poeppig, ' Reise in Chile,' 



vol. 5V., 1845, p. 140. B. i. s. 290 ; Mr. G. Clarke, as above ; 



'° Azara, ' Voyages dans I'Amer. and Rengger, s. 1 55. 



Merid.,' torn. i. p. 381 ; his account is ^' Dogs, 'Nat. Library,' vol. x. p. 



fully confirmed by Rengger. Quatre- 121; an endemic South American dog 



fages gives an account of a bitch seems also to have become feral in this 



brou<'ht from Jerusalem to France island. See Gosse's ' Jamaica,' p. 340. 



which burrowed a hole and littered ^' Low, ' Domesticated Animals,' 



in it. See ' Discours, Exposition des p. 650. 

 Races Canines,' 1865, p. 3. 



