ANECDOTES OF A WILD DOG. 221 



who had just escaped. Knowing that they hunt 

 kangaroos in packs, and have excellent noses, I was 

 anxious to try if something useful might not be 

 made out of a cross with the fox-hound ; and with 

 this view on my arrival in England, I gave her to 

 my cousin, Mr. G. Lort Phillips ; but she died in 

 a fit soon after coming into his possession. Whilst 

 with me she had two litters of pups by a pointer, 

 three each time, the first at two years, and the 

 second after an interval of ten months. At these 

 times she was particularly savage, and would take 

 the opportunity of paying off^ any old grudge she 

 might have against those who had ill-used her — for 

 she never forgot an injury — by stealing after them 

 and snapping at their heels. She was very much 

 attached to her young ; one day I took her on shore 

 and she kept catching birds to bring to them, sup- 

 plying them, as an over-fond mother will do, with a 

 superfluity of good things. 



I was very much interested in this animal, and 

 took a great deal of pains to tame her, though I 

 never fully succeeded. Her nose, as I have said, 

 was excellent ; and though quite mute she could 

 hunt very well, as I found by repeated trials when 

 out rabbit shooting. She would never leave a hole, 

 working at it with her feet and teeth until she got 

 at the inmate. These qualities confirmed me in mv 

 opinion that a cross with the fox-hound would produce 

 a good result. As an illustration of her keenness of 

 smell, I may mention that one day when we were 

 lying in the Tamar river, she winded some sheep on 



