92 DIVISION I. VEHTEBK.VL ANIMALS. ~ CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



Mastiff (Cnnis Krcanus.) — Tlicre nro .<;cveral .=pccie.s of ^Mastiffs, 

 btit the ]']iiL;lisli is tlie most ^■alucd, being inoiv elegant anil majestic. 

 Its color is bnti', \aryiug in shade, with dark nose and cars. As a watch- 

 dog, the jMastill' has no superior. lie will observe the motions of a thief 

 with the closest atteiiticjn, even walk by his side witiioiit doing him any 

 bodily injury, but resolutely forbidding him from touching a single article. 

 He has a remarkable .sense of self-respect and personal dignity, and, besides, 

 is sometimes actuated by motives of benevolence. Of this last we wit- 

 nessed a remarkable manifestation a few years since in New York, where 

 we then resided. A small dog ^\■as attacked l)y a larger one, and sorely 

 pressed. At this juncture a ]Mastilf came along, and, contemplating the 

 imc(pial combat for a moment, rushed upon the larger dog, knocked him 

 over, and, raising t)ne of his hind legs, alter the fashion of dogs, mani- 

 fested his contemj)t lor him in a most extraordinary manner. In the 

 Naturalist's Library a similar instance is related. " ^V MastilF, at Plymouth, 

 England, passing up Union Street, was beset by a whole troop of curs, till 

 they quite impeded his sober walk, sufficiently to excite his resentment, and 

 accordingly he lifted one of his hind legs and astonished them." 



The courage of the JMastilf is well attested. It is said that in the reiirn 

 of Henry \'II. a ^lastilf attacked singly, and concpiered, a lion. That 

 monarch, who regarded the lion as the king of all beasts, ordered the poor 

 animal to be hanged for daring to assail his sovereign. 



A young man once, going into a house of puljlic entertainment at Paris, 

 was told that his dog, a fine ilastilF, could not lie permitted to enter, and 

 he accordingly was left with the guard at the dooi". The young man had 

 scarcely entered the lobby when his watch was stolen. lie returned to the 

 guard, and prayed that his dog might be admitted, as through his means 

 he might discover the thief: the dog was suffered to accompany his master, 

 who intimated to tlie animal tliat he had lost something. The dog set out 

 immediately in quest of the strayed article, and fastened on tlie thief, 

 whose guilt, on searching him, was made apparent : the fellow had no less 

 than six watches in his pocket, which i)eing laid before the dog, he recog- 

 nized his master's, took it up by the string, and bore it to him in safety. 



The D.u^-MATiax Dog is a native of Dalmatia, a mountainous country 

 on the Adriatic. It is sometimes erroueouslv confounded with the Danish 

 Dog. 



From the general structure of the animal, we are of opinion it should 

 be placed with the hounds ; but though a very handsome variety, inferior to 

 none nf the aliovc in elegance of form and lieautiful markings, it is, with 

 some dissent, however, said to be without powers of nose, or nmch sagaci- 

 ty, and therefore invariably intrusted to the stables, where it familiarizes 

 with horses. 



