564 
NATURAL HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF DOGS. 
bear evidence of at least a great intermixture of their blood in the 
native races. The fact is strikingly exemplified in the greater 
number of the cur pariahs of India, and the home breeds of Turkish 
Asia, as well as of the negroes and the inhabitants of the great 
islands of the Indian Seas. M. Jeannon Naviez, mayor of Coire, 
is or was lately in possession of a hybrid dog, produced by a cross 
of the smaller wolf dog (Pomeranian) and jackal. It was of small 
size, but so quarrelsome and fierce that all other dogs were afraid 
to associate with it. Voracious in the extreme, — ducklings, 
chickens, all that came within reach, it devoured; and of such 
activity, that it sprung upon walls, and bounded along them with 
the security of a cat. It was very affectionate to the owner ; but 
not a good watcher, — seldom barking, and very fond of digging in 
the ground*. 
But besides the jackals, there is another important group of wild 
canine animals, known by the general name of “Red Dogs,” which 
are extensively spread over many regions of the Old World, and 
are represented in the New by the Aguara Wolf already mentioned, 
and in Australia by the Dingho of New South Wales. In Asia 
they may be traced from the southern slopes of the Himalaya 
mountains as far south as Ceylon, and from the shores of the 
Mediterranean eastwards into the Chinese dominions. They usually 
want the second tubercular tooth of the lower jaw, — are rather 
long-bodied, with the eyes somewhat oblique, and the soles of the 
feet hairy. They are believed not to burrow, and lead a retired 
life in the jungles. Their natural cry resembles a kind of barking; 
and they hunt both by night and day in small packs. Although 
fearful of the human race, they attack all other creatures courage- 
ously, even the savage and more powerful kinds, such as the wild 
boar and the buffalo, and are said, by acting in co-operation, to 
brave the strength and ferocity of the tiger. They seem, indeed, to 
bear as inherent a hatred towards all the larger feline animals as so 
many of the dogs of Europe do to our domesticated cats ; and they 
are described as being incessantly on the watch to destroy their cubs. 
The union of concert and courage which they display in their en- 
counters with the adults is assigned by Indian sportsmen as the 
chief cause of the alarm which a tiger exhibits at the sight of a dog, 
even of a domestic spaniel. 
To the group of red dogs belongs that peculiar and highly in- 
teresting species discovered in the Nepaul country, by Mr. Hodgson, 
and described by him under the title of Canis primcevus. Its 
native name is buansa. This kind hunts both by day and night, 
assembled in small packs of from six to ten individuals, and follows 
* Naturalist’s Library, Mammalia, vol. ix, p. 212. 
