408 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



SO numerous as formerly. The puppies are searched for and 

 reclaimed by the natives, as I have already incidentally remarked 

 (p. 394), and are trained to be useful in the chase. 



It, or a variety of it, is also found in New Zealand, where 

 it is said to have been introduced from Australia some two or 

 three centuries ago.* The dog of the native New Zealanders, 

 however (now extinct) was not the Australian Dingo, but a much 

 smaller animal, resembling a Jackal, according to Dieffenbach.t 



From tlie united testimony of the first voyagers to that 

 country, it appears that the ancient New Zealand dog was much 

 like those of Tahiti and other South Sea Islands ; that it was 

 merely a domestic animal ; small in size, with pointed nose, prick 

 ears, and small eyes ; hair long and lank, of different colours, 

 and a short bushy tail. It was a lazy sullen animal, with no 

 proper bark, and with but small powers of scent. X 



From the statements of the natives it appears that the ancient 

 Maori dog was of small size, and by no means numerous in the 

 "pas" or villages; tliat it did not bark, only howled plaintively 

 at times ; that it would not bite man ; that the owners were 

 much attached to them, gave them names, and petted them ; 

 that some of tliem were trained to seize ground-birds {wekas 

 and kiwis) for their masters, and this was effected chiefly by 

 stratagem on the part of the native, who, when he went bird- 

 catching, would take his dog with him, always leading him 

 securely tied by a cord, and, squatting down concealed in a 

 suitable place, held his dog, and imitating the cry of the bird 

 he was in quest of, the bird came near, when the little dog was 

 let go, and he ran and seized the bird and held it, or brought 

 it to his master. 



This native dog was useful in various other ways ; for its flesh 

 was used for food, its skin for clothing, and its hair for orna- 



■" Polack, ' New Zealand,' i. p. 320 (1838). 



f ' Travels in New Zealand,' p. 184 (1843). 



I See ' Cook's Voyages,' 4to, 1773, ii. pp. 152, 19G ; G. Forster's ' Voyage 

 round the World,' i. p. 219 ; J. E. Forster's ' Observations,' 4to, 1778, pp. 189 

 — 208; Parkinson's 'Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas,' 4to, 1784. 

 An admii-able summary of all that has been contributed to this subject by 

 these early voyagers has been embodied in an article by the Eev. WiUiam 

 Colenso, " Ou the Ancient Dog of the New Zealanders," printed in the 

 'Transactions of the New Zealand Institute' for 1877 (vol.x. pp.135— 165). 



