WILD DOG OF THE HIMALAYA. 



223 



US but must regard with interest the portrait of the primitive Dog, either 

 from affection for that devoted friend and follower of human kind, or, from 

 the light which the inquiry is calculated to throw upon the nature and 

 limits of the distinction of species. 



The Budnsu, or Wild Dog of the Nipalese, inhabits that part of 

 these mountains which is equidistant from the snows and the plains, 

 or in other words the middle region of Nepal. But he frequently 

 wanders into the southern division, and, sometimes, into the northern. 

 His limits, east and west, are, as I know, the Kail and Tista; and, 

 as I am informed upon good authority, the Sallej and the JBrahmaputr. 

 Wild Dogs, probably not materially differing from those of Nepal, are 

 found, likewise, in the Vindhya, the GhdLs, the NUgiris, the Kasya 

 Hills, and finally, in the chain extending brokenly, from Mirzapuvy 

 through south Behar and Orissa to the Coromandd Coast. 



Nor do Ceylon and the Eastern Islands want their Wild Dogs ; and it is 

 not therefore Mdthout surprise that I find the first Zoologists in Europe, 

 whilst expressly treating of the Dog, as he was prior to all cultivation, 

 instancing the more than half domesticated races of Australia and of 

 North America. But the ftict is that the Wild Dog of the East (where 

 alone he seems now to exist) is so extremely wild as to be really seen, 

 more rarely killed, and still seldonicr procured alive ; and that Britons 

 in India have too little leisure to record with the requisite accuracy of 

 detail for scientific purposes their casual observations, whilst sporting, of 

 new and remarkable animals. I have myself l)cen acquainted with the 

 existence and general rliaractc-r of the W ild Dou' of Vr/m/, lor a long 

 time past, and some years :iuo J ^cni to M . Di \ u c r.i., two very line 

 specimens alive; which, however, probably met the tale too olu ii attending 

 presents of this sort. 



