348 
WILD DOGS. 
assemble together for purposes of assistance 
and defence, each one being ready to do 
battle for bis comrades. They hav£ a 
barking note, and hunt together by day 
and by night, attacking not only the more 
timid animals, such as the deer and ante¬ 
lope, but the wild boar, the buffalo, and 
the tiger himself. Indeed, the latter seems 
to be the object of their especial aversion: 
they destroy the cubs whenever they can 
find them; and the tiger has such a dread 
of them that he is often alarmed even at the 
sight of a tame spaniel. They are ordi¬ 
narily inoffensive to man, if unmolested; 
but it is almost impossible to tame them, 
even if taken quite young,—though in one 
or two instances the experiment has par¬ 
tially succeeded, and in those cases they 
have appeared quite as intelligent as the 
tame dogs with which they have been 
compared. There are several varieties of 
the animal in India. They extend from 
China to the borders of Persia, and are 
found in some places in considerable num¬ 
bers ; but they are so shy, and at the same 
time so fierce, that little is known of them 
except their names. A very dangerous 
