THE EDINBURGH 



JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



AND OF 



THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



MAY, 1839. 



ZOOLOGY. 



azara's account or the dogs of Paraguay. 



The Dogs found in Paraguay may be conveniently divided into the do- 

 mestic and tame kinds. The former are of all sizes, and generally of 

 crossed races, no care being taken to preserve them pure. I do not re- 

 member to have ever seen either the Common Hound or the Greyhound. 

 Except those which are reared in the houses of the pueblos, none of them 

 will eat bread, or aught else than raw flesh, which is every where abun- 

 dant. ^ 



Among the domestic varieties those called Ovejeros, or Sheep-Dogs, 

 are particularly deserving of notice, because in this country, where there 

 are no shepherds as in Europe, they act in their place, and take charge 

 of the flocks. These Dogs, early in the morning, drive the flock from 

 the fold, they conduct it to the plain, accompany it the whole day, keep 

 it united ; and if they are numerous, they place themselves round about 

 it, defending it from Birds of Prey, from wild Dogs, from Man, and from 

 every other enemy. At sunset they conduct the Sheep back again to 

 the fold, and sleep and pass the night along with them. If any of the 

 very young and feeble Lambs lag behind, they carefully take them up in 

 their'moulhs, and carry them awhile, returning for them again and again, 

 till none remain. These Dogs are a large race, differing somewhat from the 

 Mastiff. They are very carefully reared and trained by the natives, who 

 remove them as soon as they are whelped, and consign them to the care 

 of the Ewes to suckle them, keeping them constantly in the fold, till they 

 are able to follow the flock to the plain. As while young they have a 

 great tendency to amuse themselves with the Sheep, and seriously to 

 alarm them, a collar of long cross sticks is put upon their necks, which 

 prevents them from freely exercising their limbs. They are abundantly 

 supplied with food and drink every morning ; and sometimes a portion of 

 flesh, which, however, is neither mutton nor kid, is tied round their necks 

 that they may eat when inclined. The females are never so reared ; and 

 the Dogs are invariably emasculated. These Dogs are held in the highest 

 possible estimation, and are usually sold at from twenty to twenty-five 

 dollars, whilst a Sheep is not worth more than from twopence to four- 

 pence. 



Besides this wonderful breed, there is another variety which is scarcely 

 less singular. These can scarcely be said to be of any determinate breed, 

 but proceed from the middling and larger kinds generally. Although the 

 offspring of the domestic Dogs in the country huts, they are ever ready 

 to follow, obey, and show marks of attachment to any passing traveller. 

 This attachment, however, is alike fitful and short-lived ; for whenever 

 it strikes their fancy, they, without the slightest reason, at the end of a 

 few days, or even of the first, will part company, and remain at a hut, or 

 even on the plain, there waiting to join the next traveller who appears. 

 In short, these Dogs, which are tolerably abundant, seem perfectly de- 

 void of all partiality for any person, or any dwelling-place. 



The Wild Dogs are the offspring of the domestic ones, and have ac- 

 quired their liberty, not, perhaps, so much from choice, or from a wish 

 to leave home, as from necessity; for multiplying prodigiously, they 

 become a nuisance, and from want of food, and mutual stiife, they are 

 compelled to sally forth into the plains; others assume this character from 

 being left behind by travellers, overcome by fatigue. As these Wild Dogs 

 cannot subsist upon the smaller kinds of prey, having neither the cunning 

 nor the nocturnal vision of the Fox, they live chiefly upon Calves and 

 Colts. In hunting these they always go in companies, attacking the 



herds of Cattle and Horses, and scaring them away, so that they may 

 seize and devour the young ones which are left behind. Their common 

 wants, which thus combine them for the purpose of hunting, do not 

 confer upon them the privilege of eating in common ; for the most power- 

 ful satisfy their appetites first, leaving the remains only of their repasts to 

 the others. As vigour is essentially requisite for this kind of hunting, 

 they are all large and powerful Dogs, very much resembling the kind 

 which Buffon designates the Great Danish Dog ; at the same time the) 

 have a rougher coat, a longer and sharper muzzle, larger ears, and a 

 thicker neck, than the domestic animals of the same breed. They carry 

 their ears very erect, and their tails usually hang down. They rear their young 

 in caves, which they excavate in the earth, or appropriate those which 

 have been formed by some other animal. They are not suhject to hydro- 

 phobia, which is unknown in this country. They bark a great deal, and 

 howl at times like the domestic Dog; they usually flee from Man. In 

 colour they are generally reddish-bay, dark chestnut, and black, though 

 some are spotted of all colours. Throughout the whole Pampas of Buenos 

 Ayres they are exceedingly numerous, and their total extinction would he 

 of infinite benefit to the country, on account of the great havoc they make, 

 and the destruction they occasion amongst the Cows and Sheep. The 

 inhabitants go out every now and then to hunt them, some mounted on 

 horseback, killing them with spears, rifles, and the lasso; but this mode 

 of destroying them is very laborious and insufficient withal. A more easy 

 and efficacious method would be to poison them with the fruit called 

 malaca, which sprinkled on flesh laid in their way would inevitably kill 

 them. 



After his description of these varieties, Azara expresses his astonish- 

 ment that Buffon should carry to the length it is well known he did, his 

 opinion as to the influence of climate in modifying the peculiarities of one 

 and the same species. The Spanish Naturalist combats at length Buffon's 

 error, and probably goes quite as far on the other side. Instead, how- 

 ever, of at all entering upon this difficult controversy, we shall here sub- 

 join one of the " additional notes" which the translator has appended to 

 the recent English edition of this work, and which throws more light 

 upon the point than most abstract arguments. A male and female of the 

 Hare-Indian Dog (variety Lagopus) were brought over by Dr Richard- 

 son and Sir John Franklin from the neighbourhood of the Great Bear 

 Lake, and the Mackenzie River in the Arctic regions, of which it is a 

 native, to this country, and being presented to the Zoological Society, was 

 placed in their gardens, where puppies were produced. These Dogs in 

 their native country never bark — a characteristic which continued to dis- 

 tinguish the old individuals in their new land of abode ; the young, how- 

 ever, we are told, " have learned to imitate the language of their fellows." 

 — Abridged from Mr Hunter's translation of d' Azara's Nat. Hist, of the 

 Quadrupeds of Paraguay. 



A NEW SPECIES OF ANTELOPE, JEGOCERUS NIGER THE SABLE ANTELOPE. 



A stuffed specimen of the above very large and beautiful species of 

 Antelope, hitherto unknown, was last year brought to this country from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and the following communication concerning it, 

 from Captain W. C. Harris, Bombay Engineers, was read to the Zoolo- 

 gical Society of London : — " I beg the favour of your presenting to the 

 Zoological Society the accompanying drawing and description of an en- 

 tirely new and very interesting species of Antelope, which I discovered 

 in the course of an expedition to the interior of Africa, from which I 

 have lately returned. It would appear to belong to the sub-genus Aigo- 



