€hap. I. 



THEIR PARENTAGE. 27 



dogs, and which does not characterise a single natural species 

 of the family, seems an exception; but this habit is soon 

 lost and soon reacquired. The case of the^ wild dogs on 

 the island of Juan Fernandez having become dumb has often 

 been quoted, and there is reason to believe 29 that the dumb- 

 ness ensued in the course of thirty-three years ; on the other 

 hand, dogs taken from this island by Ulloa slowly reacquired 

 the habit of barking. The Mackenzie-river dogs, of the Canis 

 latrans type, when brought to England, never learned to bark 

 properly ; but one born in the Zoological Gardens 30 " made his 

 voice sound as loudly as any other dog of the same age and 

 size." According to Professor Nillson, 31 a wolf- whelp reared 

 by a bitch barks. I. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire exhibited a jackal 

 which barked with the same tone as any common dog. 32 An 

 interesting account has been given by Mr. G. Clarke 33 of 

 some dogs run wild on Juan de Nova, in the Indian Ocean ; 

 " they had entirely lost the faculty of barking ; they had no 

 inclination for the company of other dogs, nor did they 

 acquire their voice," during a captivity of several months. 

 On the island they "congregate in vast packs, and catch 

 sea-birds with as much address as foxes could display." The 

 feral dogs of La Plata have not become dumb ; they are of 

 large size, hunt single or in packs, and burrow holes for their 

 young. 34 In these habits the feral dogs of La Plata resemble 

 wolves and jackals ; both of which hunt either singly or in 

 packs, and burrow holes. 35 These feral dogs have not become 

 uniform in colour on Juan Fernandez, Juan de Nova, or La 

 Plata. 36 In Cuba the feral dogs are described by Poeppig as 

 nearly all mouse-coloured, with short ears and light-blue eyes. 



29 Roulin, in ' Mem. present, par fages gives an account of a bitch brought 

 divers Savans,' torn. vi. p. 341. from Jerusalem to France which bur- 



30 Martin, ' History of the Dog,' p. rowed a hole and littered in it. See 

 1 * ■ ' Discours, Exposition des Races Canines,' 



31 Quoted by L. Lloyd in 'Field Sports 1865, p. 3. 



of North of Europe,' vol. i. p. 387. » With respect to wolves burrowing 



32 Quatrefages, ' Soc. d'Acclimat.,' holes, see Richardson, ' Fauna Boreali- 

 May 11th, 1863, p. 7. Americana,' p. 64 ; and Bechstein, 



33 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' < Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' b. i. s. 

 vol. xv., 1845, p. 140. qyj^ 



34 Azara, ' Voyages dans l'Amer. 36 See p oe ppig, « Keise in Chile,' b. i. 

 Merid.,' torn. i. p. 381 ; his account is s. 290 ; Mr. G. Clarke, as above ; and 

 fully confirmed by Kengger. Quatre- Kengger, s. 155. 



