CUON RTJXILAlfS. 147 



Mr. Hodgson gives the following excellent account of his Cuon primmvus 

 as met with in Nepal. " The Budnsu is in size midway between the wolf 

 and the jackal, being 21 feet long to root of tail and 21 inches in average 

 height. It is a slouching, uncompact, long, lank animal, with all the 

 marks of uncultivation about it, best assimilated in its general aspect to 

 the jackal, but with something inexpressibly but genuinely canine in its 

 physiognomy. It has a broad flat head and sharp visage, large erect ears, 

 a chest not broad nor deep; a shallow compressed barrel, somewhat 

 strained at the loin ; long heavy limbs ; broad spreading feet, and a very 

 bushy tail of moderate length, straight, and carried low. It stands rather 

 lower before than behind, with the neck in the line of the body, the head 

 unelevated, the nose pointed directly forwards, the fore limbs straightened, 

 the hind stooping ; the back inclined to arch, especially over the croup, 

 and the tail pendulous. In action the taifis shghtly raised, but never so 

 high as the horizontal line.- Though the Budnsu be not deficient in speed 

 or power of leaping, yet his motions all appear to be heavy, owing to their 

 measured uniformity. He runs in a lobbing long canter, is unapt at the 

 double, and upon the whole is somewhat less agile and speedy than the 

 jackal, very much so than the fox. The wild dog preys by night and by 

 day, but chiefly by day. Six, eight or ten, unite to hunt down their 

 victim, maintaining the chase by their powers of smell rather than by the 

 eye. They usually overcome their quarry by dint of force and perseverance, 

 though they sometimes effect their object by mixing stratagem with direct 

 violence. Their urine is pecuharly acrid, and they are said to sprinkle it 

 over the low bushes amongst which their destined victim will probably 

 move, and then in secret, to watch the result. If the stratagem succeeds, 

 they rush out upon the devoted animal whilst half blinded by the urine, and 

 destroy it before it has recovered that clearness of vision which could best 

 have enabled it to flee or defend itself. This trick the Budnsu usually 

 plays off upon animals whose speed or strength might otherwise foil them, 

 such as the buffalo, wild or tame, and certain large deer and antelopes. 

 Other animals they fairly hunt down, or furiously assaU and kill, by more 

 violence. In hunting they bark hke hounds, but their barking is in such 

 a voice as no language can express. It is utterly unlike the fine voice of 

 our cultivated breeds, and almost as unlike the peculiar strains of the 

 jackal and the fox. The Budnsu does not burrow like the wolf and fox, 

 but reposes and breeds in the recesses and natural cavities of rocks." After 

 speaking of some kept alive by him, Hodgson continues ; " after ten 



