496 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 18M. 



Mr. Sterudale (p. 241) gives a spirited illustration of tlie wild 

 dog hunting, but his dog lias pointed instead of rounded hyfena- 

 like ears, and is too full-bodied and wolf -like ; its tail too is not 

 long enough.,- for the wild dog's tail is one-half the length of the 

 head and body, and the tail of the dog in his woodcut does not look 

 more than one-third, if so much, of the head and body. This would 

 suit a jackal's picture better. In fact the portrait gives one rather 

 an incorrect idea of the wild dog as it appears alive in the jungle. 

 Mr. Sterndale (following Jerdou aud Blyth) considers that there is 

 only one species of wild dog, Gyon rutilans, varying locally, and there 

 is probably a good deal to be said for this view of the matter. Cer- 

 tainly Mr. Blanford's attribution of " woolly under-fur '' to deccan- 

 ensis, is more applicable to the Himalayan form than to the wild-dog 

 of the plains, as this latter has only a slight ruff of under-far round 

 the throat, where a mane might have been placed, and not covering 

 the body generally. The existence of under-fur suggests that the 

 animal of the plains may be derived from ancestors that inhabited 

 colder regions. Mr. Sterndale quotes from Hodgson and McMaster, 

 but as his book is so well known in Bombay, I need not make any long 

 extracts from it, and will only note that according to Hodgson (on 

 native authority, Mr. Blanford surmises) "wild dogs bark like 

 hounds in hunting " j while McMaster quotes ''Hawk-eye" (Col. 

 Hamilton) to the effect that " the wild dog does not throw his 

 tongue when in chase ; he has heard them make a kind of tremulous 

 whimper." This latter opinion is confirmed by Stonehenge and 

 other writers. 



Mr. Sterndale also quotes from his own '' Seouee " as follows : — 

 " The natives in all parts of India declare that even tigers are 

 attacked by them ; and we once heard a very circumstantial account 

 of a fight which took place near the station of Seonee, between a 

 tiger and a pack of these dogs, in which the latter were victors. 

 They followed him about, cautiously avoiding too close a contact, 

 and worried him for three successive days, — a statement which 

 should be received with caution. We have however heard of them 

 annoying a tiger to such an extent as to make him surrender to 

 them the prey which he had killed for himself." 



There is a general tendency, I may remark, among English 



