134 



THE DOG TRIBE. 



providing themselves with their food are very 

 different. Some hunt alone or in pairs, others 

 in larger or smaller companies. Some hunt 

 only by day. others only by night. Some 

 resort to cuiming, others rely solely on their 

 strength, others depend on their speed. There 

 are certain carnivores which pursue their prey 

 running, while others crawl up towards it 

 and then seize it by a sudden bound. Some 

 are agile climbers and live mainly in trees, 

 others are very expert swimmers and divers, 

 and others again economize their strength, and 

 in order to obtain their prey trust only to in- 

 exhaustible patience and to stratagem. There 

 is almost always one of the senses more 

 highly developed than all the others. Most 

 frequently it is the sense of smell that guides 

 them, often also that of hearing, sometimes 

 only the sense of sight. 



The mental qualities and the disposition are 

 just as varied as the food. Those which feed 



on living animals are frequently bloodthirsty 

 and kill more than they can consume. The 

 carrion-eaters are voracious and cowardly. The 

 vegetable-feeders have a gentle disposition. 



In general the robber must be more in- 

 telligent than the robbed. We have accor- 

 dingly just as little reason to be surprised at 

 the highly developed intelligence of certain 

 carnivores as at the ease with which some of 

 them make themselves the associates of man. 

 To this order man owes his oldest and trus- 

 tiest domestic companion, the dog. 



But it would be superfluous to enter here 

 into further details, which we reserve till we 

 come to the more thorough examination of 

 the individual types. We regard this great 

 order as made up of six families: the Dogs 

 (Canida); the Hyaenas (Hyaenida); the Cats 

 (Felida); the Viverrines (Viverrida); the 

 Bears (Ursida); and the Martens (Mus- 

 telida). 



THE DOG TRIBE 



(CANIDA). 



Digitigrade carnivores with long running legs, five free toes on the fore-feet, four on the hind-feet, and in 



most cases 42 teeth. 



This large family, distributed over the 

 whole world, is easily recognizable even in its 

 most divergent forms. The not very large 

 head carries in all wild members of the family 

 erect, pointed, very mobile ears, often very 

 large, and wide open eyes, and is produced 

 into a longer or shorter muzzle, at the end of 

 which open the wide mobile nostrils. The 

 wide mouth is surrounded by thick fleshy 

 lips, on which are set sparsely scattered tac- 

 tile hairs. The long broad fleshy tongue 

 serves to lap up liquids. The vertebrae of 

 the .strong fleshy neck have broad and high 

 processes for the attachment of the powerful 

 muscles. The small laterally compressed 



chest and insignificant trunk are supported 

 by straight legs, which are relatively longer 

 than in other carnivores. The toes are mostly 

 armed with a few curved claws, which get 

 worn away in running. On the sole of the 

 feet are callous pads covered with a thick 

 rough skin. The tail, generally long, is often 

 shaggy. The fur is pretty thick, but only 

 rarely of much value to the furrier; in certain 

 parts the hair is elongated so as to form a 

 mane or long tuft. There may be as many 

 as ten abdominal teats, and the number of 

 the young born at one time is often very 

 considerable. The coat is seldom brightly 

 coloured or marked; in general the prevail- 



