8 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



Of this most important circumstance there are far too many 

 instances to allow of its being looked upon as a mere coinci- 

 dence. Sir John Richardson, writing in 1829, observed 

 that " the resemblance between the North American wolves 

 and the domestic dog of the Indians is so great that the size 

 and strength of the wolf seems to be the only difference. I 

 have more than once mistaken a band of wolves for the dogs 

 of a party of Indians ; and the howl of the animals of both 

 species is prolonged so exactly in the same key that even the 

 practised ear of the Indian fails at times to discriminate 

 between them." 



As the Eskimo and Indian dogs resemble the North 

 American wolf, so the dog of the Hare Indians, a very different 

 breed, resembles the prairie wolf. Except in the matter of 

 barking, there is no difference whatever between the black 

 wolf-dog of the Indians of Florida and the wolves of the same 

 country. The same phenomenon is seen in many kinds of 

 European dogs. The Shepherd Dog of the plains of Hungary 

 is white or reddish-brown, has a sharp nose, short erect ears, 

 shaggy coat, and bushy tail, and so much resembles a wolf 

 that Mr. Paget, who gives the description, says he has known 

 a Hungarian mistake a wolf for one of his own dogs. Many 

 of the dogs of Russia, Lapland, and Finland are comparable 

 with the wolves of those countries. Some of the domestic 

 dogs of Egypt, both at the present day and in the condition of 

 mummies, are wolf-like in type, and the dogs of Nubia have 

 the closest relation to a wild species of the same region, which 

 is only a form of the common jackal. Dogs, it may again 

 be noted, cross with the jackal as well as with wolves, and this 

 is frequently the case in Africa, as, for example, in Bosjesmans, 

 where the dogs have a marked resemblance to the black- 

 backed jackal, which is a South African variety. 



It has been suggested that the one incontrovertible argu- 

 ment against the lupine relationship of the dog is the fact that 

 all domestic dogs bark, while all wild Canidce express their 

 feelings only by howls. But the difficulty here is not so 



