264 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



ticipation. If he wishes to be friendly, he looks at us interestedly, comes 

 over to smell of us in order to assure himself whether he has ever met us 

 before, and then wags his tail as a sign of good faith. If he wishes to 

 show affection, he leaps upon us and licks our face or hands with his 

 soft, deft tongue and follows us jealously. When he stands at attention, 

 he holds his tail stiff in the air, and looks up with one ear lifted as if 

 to say, "Well, what's doing?" When angry, he growls and shows his 

 teeth and the tail is held rigidly out behind, as if to convince us that it 

 is really a continuation of his backbone. When afraid, he whines and 

 lies flat upon his belly, often looking beseechingly up toward his master as 

 if begging not to be punished; or he crawls away out of sight. When 

 ashamed, he drops his tail between his legs and with drooping head and 

 sidewise glance slinks away. When excited, he barks and every bark 

 expresses high nervous tension. 



Almost all dogs that chase their prey, bark when so doing, which 

 would seem at first sight to be a foolish thing to do, in that it reveals their 

 whereabouts to their victims and also adds an incentive to flight. But it 

 must be borne in mind that dogs are descended from wolves, which 



naturally hunt in packs and 

 .^ do not stalk their prey. The 



baying of the hound is a most 

 common example of the habit, 

 and as we listen we can under- 

 stand how, by following this 

 sound, the pack is kept to- 

 gether. Almost all breeds of 

 dogs have an acute sense of 

 hearing. When a dog bays 

 at the moon or howls when he 

 hears music, it is simply a 

 reversion to the wild habifc o^ 

 howling to call together the 

 pack or in answer "to the 

 music of the pack." It is 

 interesting that our music, 

 which is the flower of our 

 civilization, should awaken 

 the sleeping ancestral traits 

 in the canine breast. But 

 perhaps that, too, is why we 

 respond to music, because it awakens in us the strong, primitive 

 emotions, and for the time, enables us to free ourselves from all conven- 

 tional shackles and trammels. 



Bloodhound. 



