NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOO. 



CHAPTER III. 



VARIETIES OF DOG. 



I MAY premise that I shall first treat of the wild dogs ; and 

 that I shall do so as a separate class, which I believe th n t : 

 be namely, not domestic dogs run wild, nor yet as the wil.l 

 type of our domestic dog ; but as a separate species, only 

 entitled to consideration in this place, as constituting a linK 

 b -tween dog and wolf, and as being a species still more 

 nearly allied to the common dog than that animal, althougn 

 by no means specifically identical ; as the cheetah, or hunt- 

 ing leopard the " felis jubata" is said to do betut < -n the 

 f -lines and the canines, resembling the greyhound in general 

 form, and differing from the true felines in not poss 

 retractile claws, &c. 



The most remarkable of the wild dogs aro the Dingo of 

 Australia; the Kararahe; the Dhole and Jungle koola of 

 India ; the wild dog of China ; the bush-dog, or Aguara, of 

 South America ; the Deeb of Egypt. Of the so-called wild 

 dogs of Southern Africa, the " canis pictus" of I 

 &c., I shall say nothing in the present volume, as !: 

 N not at all to be considered as dogs, being far more nearly 

 allied to the hyaena. 



THE DINGO. 



The Dingo, called by the natives of Australia, "War- 

 ragal," is about the size of a middling foxhound, or from 

 twenty-three to twenty-four inches in height at the shoulder. 

 In form he partakes of many of the characteristics of both 

 dog and wolf, and is not very unlike the cross produced by 

 the intermixture of these two animals. Flis ears are 

 his muzzle pointed, his tail bushy, his coat of moderate 

 length, and his color usually a buff or bay. Many authors 

 assert that the Dingo never erects his tail, but always carries 

 it in a pendent position : it is not so. The Dingo ordinarily 

 carries his tail curled over his back ; it is only when irn- 

 tated or alarmed that he lowers it. I had many opportunities 

 9f observing a very fine specimen lately in the gard&ns of 



