152 The Carnivora. 
kennels. of Mr. B. W. Donkin, and, though quite a stranger 
to them, handled some dozen bulldogs, of all ages and both 
sexes, with perfect impunity. Mr. Donkin considers them 
second to no breed of dogs in good temper and manners, and 
intelligent when treated as companions; but not in respect to 
mental capacity equal to colleys, retrievers, poodles, Scotch 
terriers, &c. This is not surprising, since they have not the 
advantage of inheriting the effects of long continued associa- 
tion with man, like many other breeds. 
Mr. Donkin informs me that his champion Byron, the sub- 
ject of this illustration, will not only track his footsteps, but 
has been broken to the gun, and will find and retrieve fur 
and feather, both by land and water. The remarkable pro- 
gnathism of the lower jaw, which occasionally appears in a 
modified degree in other breeds, is, of course, the result of 
selection—a deformation, by the way, which would place a 
dog that had to hunt for his living at the greatest dis- 
advantage. This peculiarity was at one time highly valued, 
because it was said, accompanied as it is by nostrils set 
far back, that it enabled the dog to breathe freely while 
hanging on to the nose of a bull; however this may be, this 
character, as well as the shortness of face, has become much 
exaggerated during the past hundred years. It is somewhat 
singular that so great a degree of modification should have 
taken place in a direction the very opposite of that which is 
serviceable to the animal. The bulldog cannot take hold 
quickly with his mouth, and in hunting he is obliged—the 
nostrils being set so far back—to bring his nose almost 
under his chest, with the risk of falling forwards. These dis- 
advantages are, to my thinking, conclusive against the sup- 
position that this breed, if no other, is descended from a 
wild species with similar characters; for, exactly in proportion 
as these structural disadvantages exist, the animal would be 
impeded in hunting and securing his prey. 
