•that king Charles the Second hardly ever 
walked out without being attended by some 
of this breed. It is in some degree allied to 
the small water spaniel, and is generally black, 
with the roof of the mouth of the same colour. 
I lie Maltese dog is also a very small kind 
£>f spaniel, generally of a white colour. 
1 he hound admits of some varieties. The 
old English hound is distinguished by its great 
size and strength. Its power of smelling is 
exquisite, and it is said to be able to distin- 
guish the scent an hour after the lighter 
beagles have given it up. These dogs are 
said to have been once very common in 
every part of England, and to have been 
much larger than at present, the breed having, 
as it should seem, been gradually suffered to 
decline. 
The blood hound is a very large dog, taller 
and more beautifully formed than the old 
English hound, and superior to most others 
in speed, strength, and sagacity. The blood 
hound was in much esteem with our ancestors 
for the pursuit of robbers, &c. It was mostly 
of a reddish or brown colour. “ A person of 
quality (says Mr. Boyle), to make a trial 
whether a young blood hound was well in- 
structed, caused one of his servants to walk 
to a town four miles off, and then to a market- 
town three miles from thence. The dog, 
without seeing whom he was to pursue, fol- 
lowed him by the scent to the abovemen- 
tioned places, notwithstanding the multitude 
of market-people that went along the same 
•way, and of travellers that had occasion to 
cross it; and when the bloodhound came 
to the chief market-town, he passed through 
the streets without taking notice of any of tlie 
people there, nor did he stop till he had gone 
to the house where the man he sought rested 
himself, and found him in an upper room, to 
the wonder of those that followed him.” 
The pointer is employed principally in 
finding partridges and other game. r I lie large 
pointer, commonly termed the Spanish point- 
er, is supposed to distinguish itself by a greater 
degree of docility than the English pointer, 
but is not able to undergo the fatigues of the 
field so well. 
The Dalmatian, or coach dog, is an animal 
of great beauty. Its native country seems 
uncertain. Mr. Pennant, however, informs 
us that Dalmatia is the country of this ele- 
gant dog. It is white, and beautifully marked 
•with numerous black spots. See Plate Nat. 
Hist. ffg. 88. 
The Irish greyliound is supposed to be the 
largest of all the dog kind, as well as the most 
beautiful and majestic in its appearance. It 
is only to be found in Ireland, and even there 
is become extremely rare. 
The common greyhound is remarkable for 
the slenderness oi its shape, the length of its 
snout, and the extreme swiftness of its course. 
The greyhound wants the faculty of quick 
scent, and follows his prey merely by the eye. 
■ The Italian greyhound is a small and beauti- 
ful variety of the former. See Plate Nat. 
Hist. fig. 89. 
The naked dog is naturally divested of 
bail', and is supposed to have originated in 
some very warm climate. 
The mastiff is of a very strong and thick 
form, with a large head, a bold countenance, 
and large lips hanging down on each side. 
Dr. Cains, who lived in the reign of Eliza- 
beth, and who described the several varieties 
CANIS. 
of English dogs, tells us that three mastiffs 
were reckoned a match for a bear, and four 
for a lion; but from an experiment made in 
the Tower in the reign of James the First, a 
lion was found an unequal match to only 
three. Two of the dogs were disabled by the 
combat, but the third forced the lion to seek 
for safety by flight. See Plate Nat. Hist, 
lig. 86. 
The bull dog is a kind of mastiff on a 
smaller scale, with a somewhat flatter snout, 
and a greater ferocity of aspect. The bull 
dog is remarkable for the undaunted and sa- 
vage pertinacity with which it provokes and 
continues the light, and when it has fixed its 
bite, is with extreme difficulty disengaged 
from its antagonist. The pug dog is a small 
and innocent resemblance of the former, and 
is in some countries considered as a kind of 
lap-dog. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 87. 
The terrier is generally an attendant cn 
every pack of hounds, and is very expei t in 
forcing foxes or other game out of their co- 
verts. It is the determined enemy of all the 
vermin kind ; such as weasels, foumarts, 
badgers, rats, mice, &c. 
The turnspit is a breed very much on the 
decline in England, though still used in some 
other countries. It is a long-bodied, short- 
legged dog, with crooked or bowed knees, 
and is commonly of a dusky grey, spotted 
with black. To these we may add the alco, 
or Peruvian dog, and several mixed breeds 
from the above. 
2d. Canis lupus, or wolf, is distinguished 
from the dog by his superior size, stronger 
limbs, more muscular body, and greater 
breadth of the upper part of the face, while 
the whole form of it is longer : the tail also, 
which in the dog is pretty uniformly turned 
a little towards one side (generally Ihe left), 
in the wolf has an inward direction ; it is ra- 
ther long and bushy. The wolf is a native of 
almost all the temperate and cold regions of 
the globe. It is found in most countries of 
Europe, but has been totally extirpated from 
our own island, as well as from Ireland. 
The general colour of the wolf is a pale 
grey, with a cast of yellowish, but it varies 
much as to the shades or gradations of co- 
lour indifferent parts of the world. 
The wolf is sometimes affected with mad- 
ness, attended with similar appearances to 
those exhibited in that state by the dog, and 
productive of the same symptoms in conse- 
quence of its bite : this disease is said to hap- 
pen to them in the depth of winter, and 
therefore, as Mr. Pennant observes, can never 
be attributed to the rage of the dog-days. 
Wolves in the northern parts of the world 
sometimes, during the spring, get on the ice 
of tire sea, in order to prey on young seals, 
which they catch asleep ; but this repast 
sometimes proves fatal to them, for the ice, 
detached from the slrore, carries them to a 
great distance from the land before they are 
sensible of it. It is said that in some years a 
large district is by this means delivered from 
these pernicious beasts, which are heard howl- 
ing in a most dreadful manner far in the sea. 
The time of gestation in the wolf is (accord- 
ing to Buffon) about three months and a 
half; and the young whelps are found from 
April to July; and this difference in the 
time of gestation, which in the wolf is 100 
days, and in the dog only 60, he considers 
P p .2 ' 
$90 
justly as .1 proof of the real difference between 
the two species. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 
84. 
3d. Canis Mexicanus, or Mexican wolf, ap- 
pears to have been first described by Her- 
nandez, in his account of Mexico. In its ge- 
neral appearance it resembles the common 
wolf, but has a head twice as large, a, thicker 
neck, and a less bushy tail : the colour ol the 
body is cinereous, marked with some yellow 
spots. Above the mouth are situated several 
bristles as large, but not so stiff, as tho.se of 
the hedgehog ; the ears are grey, like the 
head and body ; there is a long yellow spot 
on the neck, another on the breast, and a 
. third on the belly ; on the flayiks are trans- 
verse bands from the back to the belly; 
the tail is grey, with a yellow spot in ti e mid- 
dle ; the legs are barred with grey and brown , 
4th. Canis lycaon, or black wolf. Like the 
common wolf, it is found both in Europe and 
America, as well as in some parts of Asia. It 
bears a great general resemblance to the 
common species, but is smaller, entirely 
black, with a .somewhat thinner or less bushy 
tail hanging nearly straight ; the ears are larger 
-in proportion than those of the common wolf, 
and the eyes smaller, and situated at a great- 
er distance from eacli other. In America the 
black wolf is chiefly found in Canada, and 
in Europe occurs only in the more northern 
regions. 
5th. Canis hyaena, is a native of many parts 
of Asia and Africa, being found in Syria, Persia, 
Barbary, Senegal, &c. &c. Its general size i» 
that of a large dog, but it is distinguished by 
great strength of limbs, and by a remarkable 
tullness or thickness of the snout. Its colour 
is a pale greyish-brown accompanied by rf 
tawny cast, -and the whole body is maiked 
by several distant blackish transverse bands 
running from the back downwards. On all 
the feet are four toes. Hyaenas generally in- 
habit caverns and rocky places: they prowl 
about chiefly by night, and feed on the re-> 
mains of dead animals as well as on living 
prey. They are even said to devour the 
bodies which they occasionally find in ceme- 
teries. They attack cattle, and frequently 
commit great devastation among -the flocks* 
Though not gregarious from any social prin- 
ciple, they sometimes assemble in troops, and 
follow with dreadful assiduity the movements 
of an army, through the hope of feasting on 
the slaughtered bodies. See Plate Nat. 
Hist. tig. 79- 
There is something in the aspect of the 
hyaena which seems to indicate a peculiar 
gloominess and malignity of disposition ; and 
its manners in a state of captivity seem in 
general to correspond with its appearance, 
being savage and uiitractable. It has even 
been supposed that the hyaena cannot be 
tamed; but this opinion is proved to be er- 
roneous from two instances at least; one of 
which is recorded by Mr. Pennant, who de- 
clares that he saw a hyaena which had been 
rendered as tame as a dog ;■ the oilier by the 
Count de Buffon, v ho- assures yus that in an 
exhibition of animals at Paris,' in the y ear 
1773, there was a hyaena which had been 
tamed very early, and was apparently' divest- 
ed of all its natural malevolence of disposition . 
6th. Canis crocuta, or spotted hy ana, re- 
sembles the former, but is superior in size, 
and is readily distinguished by being marked 
all over the body and legs with numerous 
