NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG, 21 



2. SPANIELS. 



Anatomical character : " The head very moderately elongated ; 

 parietal bones not approaching each other above the temples, but 



the lovers of the masculine venation of the olden times ; and consequently 

 the canes venatici of classical antiquity have been very ably depicted by some 

 of those who accompanied them, and pressed them forward to the attack of 

 the most powerful beasts of the field. It is, nevertheless, more than seventeen 

 centuries ago that the younger Xenophon (fired with admiration of the per- 

 formances, not of the mastiflT, the boar-hound, or other of the fierce assailants 

 of beasts of the field, but of those efiected solely with the ardour and speed of 

 the greyhound) wrote a Greek Treatise on Coursing, which remained imknown 

 to most others except those whose education enabled them to cultivate an in- 

 timate acquaintance with the classical elucidations of the Cynegeticus of the 

 renowned Greek author we have named. This ancient and most valuable 

 MS. has at length been rendered familiar to all classes of readers by the 

 laboxirs of an excellent classic, who, for the benefit of the less erudite courser, 

 has not only unfolded each page of the original Cynegeticus, but has greatly 

 enhanced the value of his translation by the additional notes he has appended 

 thereto. 



In the Levant, we would observe, the greyhound is said to be very common ; 

 and in Turkey we have the authority of Mr. Dallaway for asserting that it is 

 equally so. This gentleman describes the greyhounds of that time as being 

 large and white, but that their tails were fantastically stained with red. In 

 Laconia they are, according to Mr. Hobhouse, also large, and their hair is 

 long. The long-haired greyhound is therefore by no means confined to 

 northern climates ; neither are long external coverings of hair among other 

 domestic animals uncommon in the warmest countries, as we see in the cats, 

 rabbits, and goats of Angora ; but the hair so seen, however long, possesses a 

 silky fineness of textvire, and does not retain animal heat as does the thick, 

 wiry hair of nortliern animals, with a matting of wool at the roots. The 

 greyhovmds of the east likewise, although delicately fine in their limbs, have 

 many of them long silk-like coats. The elegant animal called the Persian 

 greyhound, to the utmost lightness of form and smoothness of body adds the 

 peculiarity of having his ears, legs, and tail, befringed with very long fine 

 hair, like that of the setter or spaniel. In temperate climes, but particularly 

 in England, where the cultivation of the greyhound is carried to the highest 

 perfection, he presents the most symmetric model of an animal expressly 

 formed for great velocity. It is not a little remarkable that this dog, which 

 in the dark ages was but little noted, should in times much antecedent thereto 



