;16 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



and faithfulness; and these dutiful animals reconcile 

 us to the breed in this respect. 



The Greyhound acts toward other Dogs precisely 

 as he does toward human beings. He does not 

 bear them any love, and adopts a manner almost 

 of indifference toward them; but if a fight is started 

 he is the first to bite and may become dangerous; 

 for in spite of his fine, slender body he is strong, 

 and as soon as the biting stage of a fight is reached 

 he takes advantage of his high stature, holding his 

 opponent by the nape of the neck, tightening his 

 grasp when the other Dog moves, tries to lift him 



THE BULLDOCr. The type of strength, courage and persistent determination, above all other animals, is 



the Bulldog. The stout body and powerful chest, the blunt muzzle, the upper lip overhanging the lower jaw on both 

 sMeS and the diminutive ears, all of which are shown in the picture, are points of distinction of .this well known ani- 

 mal. He is a'faithful watch Dbg, a fearless hunter ahd a good servant, but a bold and invincible antagonist. (Canis 

 familiaris molossus hibernicus.) 



and gives him a shake that makes the poor animal 

 lose his senses. All the unsympathetic qualities of 

 the Greyhound cannot diminish his importance, how- 

 ever. Among many nations he is as indispensable 

 as the Pointer to the European sportsman, or as 

 the Collie to the shepherd. In the South, espe- 

 cially in all countries abounding in plains, he is used 

 to a far greater extent than in the North. The Tar- 

 tars, the Persians, the inhabitants of Asia Minor, the 

 Bedouins, the Cabyls, the Soudanese, the people of 

 India and other tribes of central Africa and Asia 

 put a great value on him, sometimes as great as on 

 a Horse. Among the Arabian tribes of the desert, 

 or rather of the desert-like plains on the border of 

 the Sahara, there is a proverb: "A good Falcon, a 

 swift Dog and a noble Horse are worth more than 

 twenty Women." 



In our temperate climes the Greyhound is not used 

 to any great extent. A level country, through which 

 a Horse may be ridden unobstructed, is the only one 

 suitable for the hunter who desires to be " in at the 

 death" when a Greyhound has caught a Hare. 



The Greyhound Such a chase affords a beautiful spec- 



Chasing a tacle. The Hare is not as stupid as it 



Hare. looks and plays an inexperienced 



Dog many a trick. The Greyhound follows his 



game with fearful rapidity, making leaps of great 

 distances, sometimes vying with the larger Felidae in 

 this respect, clearing two, three or four yards at a 

 bound, so that he soon comes up with the Hare. 

 When he is nearly on the point of seizing it, the 

 hunted animal suddenly turns around and retraces 

 its steps, but the Dog, taking a straight course, 

 rushes ahead and nearly falls to the ground from his 

 sudden halt, when he finds his prey has eluded him. 

 He looks around savagely and, in great anger, again 

 seeks the Hare and sees it running along at probably 

 one hundred and fifty paces distant. He turns about, 



rushes after it and just as 

 ■ he is ready to seize it, the 

 Hare turns around again 

 and the Dog fails as in 

 the first instance. In this 

 manner the hunt might be 

 continued forever if the 

 hunter did not send two 

 Dogs after one Hare; one 

 pursuing it, the other cut- 

 ting off its retreat. 



The Grey- While Grey- 

 hound of the hounds of the 

 Desert. North differ 

 much in their structure 

 and fur, those of the 

 South seemingly all be- 

 long to the same breed, a 

 specimen of which, the 

 Greyhound of the Desert, 

 we will consider. He is 

 as noble as he is graceful, 

 his fur is of silky softness, 

 his color light tawny, 

 sometimes with a whitish 

 tint, frequently merging 

 into a dark roe-brown. 

 This breed of Dogs is 

 found pictured on the 

 Egyptian monuments 

 with other species, es- 

 pecially among spotted 

 Greyhounds. 

 In 1848 I spent several weeks in the village of 

 Melbes in Kordofan, and had a great many oppor- 

 tunities of watching the Greyhound of central Africa. 

 The natives, although they cultivate the soil, depend 

 chiefly on Cattle-raising and hunting for their live- 

 lihood. For this reason they keep only Shepherd 

 Dogs for their flocks and Greyhounds to guard their 

 village. It was a real pleasure to walk through the 

 village, for in front of every house several of these 

 Dogs were sitting, vying with each other in beauty. 

 They were watchful, differing in this respect from 

 other Dogs of their kind. They protect the village 

 from the attack of Hyaenas and Leopards, and the 

 Lion is the only animal with which they dare not 

 enter into a contest. During the day they were quiet 

 and it was only after sunset that they became 

 active. One could then see them climbing about on 

 the walls, and even mounting on the conical straw 

 roofs of the round huts, probably to have a better 

 vantage-ground for surveying the neighborhood. 

 Their agility in climbing was well calculated to 

 evoke astonishment. 



Every week there were holidays for these animals. 

 In the early morning one would sometimes hear the 

 sound of a bugle in the village : that was the signal 

 for a hunt. The Men and the Dogs assembled and 



