VARIETIES OF THE DOG. 15 



Mr. Hodgson has favoured the Zoological Society with an account of 



THE WILD DOG OF NEPAL, 



the budnsu, and, finding it more or less prevailing through the whole of 

 Northern India, and even southward of the coast of Coromandel, he thought 

 that he had discovered the primitive race of the dog. This is a point that 

 can never be decided. " These dogs hunt their prey by night, as well as 

 by day, in packs of from six to ten individuals, maintaining the chace more 

 by the scent than by the eye, and generally succeeding by dint of strength 

 and perseverance. While hunting, they bark like the hound, yet the 

 bark is peculiar and equally unlike that of the cultivated breeds of dogs, 

 and the cries of the jackal and the fox." Bishop Heber gives the follow- 

 ing account of them. " They are larger and stronger than a fox, which 

 in the circumstances of form and fur they much resemble. They hunt, 

 however, in packs, give tongue like dogs, and possess an exquisite scent. 

 They make of course tremendous havoc among the game in these hills ; 

 but that mischief they are said amply to repay by destroying wild beasts 

 and even tigers." a 



Wild dogs are susceptible of certain social combinations. In Egypt, 

 Constantinople, and throughout the whole of the East, there are in every 

 village troops of wandering dogs who belong to no particular person. 

 Each troop has its own quarter of the place ; and, if any wander into a 

 quarter which does not belong to him, its inhabitants unite together and chase 

 him out. At the Cape of Good Hope there are many dogs half-starved. 

 On going from home the natives induce two or more of these animals 

 to accompany them, warn them of the approach of any ferocious animal, 

 and, if any of the jackals approach the walls during the night, they utter 

 the most piercing cries, and at this signal every dog sallies out, and, 

 uniting together, put the jackals to speedy flight. 1 * 



The wild Nepal dogs caught when at an adult age make no approach 

 towards domestication ; but a young one, which Mr. Hodgson obtained 

 when it was not more than a month old, became sensible to caresses, and 

 manifested as much intelligence as any sporting dog of the same age. 



Captain T. Williamson gives an interesting account of the ferocious 

 character of some of these wild dogs. " They have considerable resem- 

 blance to the jackal in form. They are remarkably savage, and frequently 

 will approach none but their doonahs or keepers, not allowing their own 

 masters to come near them. Some of them are very fleet ; but they are 

 not to be depended upon in coursing ; for they are apt suddenly to give 

 up the chace when it is a severe one, and, indeed, they will too often prefer 

 a sheep or a goat to a hare. In hog-hunting they are more valuable. It 

 seems to suit their temper and they appear to enjoy the snapping and the 

 snarling, incident to that species of sports." 



He says that many persons affect to treat the idea of degeneration in 

 quadrupeds with ridicule ; but all who have been any considerable 

 time resident in India must be satisfied that dogs of European breed be- 

 come, after every successive generation, more and more similar to the 



he should injure purposely, or destroy one b Histoire du Chien, par Elzear Blaze, 



of them, the law would punish him. Che- p. 54. 



valier Darvieux's Travels in Arabia De- c Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 



serta, 1718, p. 155. Part I. 1833. 

 a Heber's Narrative, p. 500. 



