124 THE CANINE FAMILY 
and France, hydrophobia attacks wolves and foxes 
as well as the dogs; both the first mentioned are 
then without the fear of man, but run on in rabid 
ferocity, biting all living beings they can reach. In 
this condition mad foxes have been killed, in the 
middle of people assembled at market. 
The dogs of South America are not afflicted by 
hydrophobia, but they suffer from an eruptive dis- 
ease that has been compared to the human small- 
pox, and is very destructive, but never attacks the 
animal a second time. The disease is attended 
with convulsions; the beast in delirium bites at 
random and mechanically ; drops saliva mixed with 
blood, and the distemper is so extensively fatal, that 
in Peru it is considered as a plague. 
In a wild state the greater number reside in dense 
forests, but it would seem that those destined to 
become the companions of man are not so exclu- 
sively the tenants of the woods. The wild Canis 
latrans and C. anthus are examples of this fact, and 
the typical race whence greyhounds have sprung 
appears to owe its origin to the northern plains of 
Eastern Persia. Even the black wolf and the der- 
boun, are more tenants of mountain ranges than of 
forests. The large wild species of Europe do not 
burrow, though in India and America they still 
reside in retreats under ground. It is probable 
natural sagacity has taught them that there is no 
longer sufficient safety in burrows amidst the dense 
population of the Christian states ; and numerous 
local names still remaining attest, at least, that they 
