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had formerly belonged to some animal of the weasel
kind. As he made signs for us to come to him, we
turned that way, fearing he had met with some acci-
dent; and when the people began to unearth the bees,
I did not expect that we should escape without being
severely stung. But they knew so well how to manage
an affair of this kind, that they robbed the poor insects
with the greatest ease and safety. Before they com-
menced digging, a fire was made near the hole, and
constantly supplied with damp fuel to produce a cloud
of smoke. In this the workmen were completely enve-
loped; so that the bees returning from the fields were
prevented from approaching, and those which flew out
of the nest were driven by it to a distance. Yet the
rest of our party, to avoid their resentment, found it
prudent either to ride off, or stand also in the smoke.
About three pounds of honey were obtained, which,
excepting a small share which I reserved till tea-time,
they instantly devoured in the comb; and some of the
Hottentots professed to be equally fond of the larva.
The honey appeared unusually liquid, and nearly as
thin as water, yet it seemed as sweet, and of as delicate
a taste, as the best honey of England. Whilst I was
engaged in the chase one day on foot with a Namaqua
attendant, he picked up a small stone, looked at it ear
nestly, then over the plain, and threw it down again. I
asked what it was; he said there was the mark of a
bee on it; taking it up, I also saw on it a small pointed
drop of wax [properly excrement], which had fallen
from a bee in its flight. The Namaqua noticed the
direction the point of the drop indicated, and walking
on, he picked up another stone, also with a drop of wax
on it, and so on at considerable intervals, till, getting
behind a crag, he looked up, and bees were seen flying
across the sky, and in and out of a cleft in the face of
the rock. Here, of course, was the honey he was in
pursuit of. A dry bush is selected, fire is made, the
cliff is ascended, and the nest is robbed in the smoke."

straight line, almost with the velocity of a bullet. The
hunters watched attentively the course they took, and
then set off in the same direction, stumbling along over
twisted roots and fallen trees, with their eyes turned
up to the sky. In this way they traced the honey-laden
bees to their hive, in the hollow trunk of a blasted oak,
where, after buzzing about for a moment, they entered
a hole about sixty feet from the ground. Two of the
bee-hunters now plied their axes vigorously at the
foot of the tree, to level it with the ground. The mere
spectators and amateurs, in the meantime, drew off to
a cautious distance, to be out of the way of the falling
of the tree and the vengeance of its inmates. The
jarring blows of the axe seemed to have no effect in
alarming or agitating this most industrious community.
They continued to ply at their usual occupations-some
arriving full-freighted into port, others sallying forth
on new expeditions, like so many merchantmen in a
money-making metropolis, little suspicious of impend-
ing bankruptcy and downfall; even a loud crack, which
announced the disrupture of the trunk, failed to divert
their attention from the intense pursuit of gain: at
length down came the tree with a tremendous crash,
bursting open from end to end, and displaying all the
hoarded treasures of the commonwealth. One of the
hunters immediately ran up with a wisp of lighted hay,
as a defence against the bees. The latter, however,
made no attack, and sought no revenge: they seemed
stupified by the catastrophe, and, unsuspicious of
its cause, remained crawling and buzzing about the
ruins, without offering us any molestation. Every one
of the party now fell to, with spoon and hunting-knife,
to scoop out the flakes of honeycomb with which the
hollow trunk was stored. Some of them were of old
date, and a deep brown colour; others were beauti-
fully white, and the honey in their cells was almost
limpid. Such of the combs as were entire were placed
in camp-kettles, to be conveyed to the encampment;
those which had been shivered in the fall were devoured
upon the spot. Every stark bee-hunter was to be seen
with a rich morsel in his hand, dripping about his
fingers, and disappearing as rapidly as a cream tart
before the holiday appetite of a schoolboy. Nor was it
the bee-hunters alone that profited by the downfall of
this industrious community. As if the bees would
carry through the similitude of their habits with those
of laborious and gainful man, I beheld numbers from
rival hives, arriving on eager wing, to enrich them-
selves with the ruins of their neighbours. These busied
themselves as eagerly and cheerily as so many wreckers
on an Indiaman that has been driven on shore-plung-
ing into the cells of the broken honeycombs, banquet-
ing greedily on the spoil, and then winging their way
full-freighted to their homes. As to the poor proprie-
tors of the ruin, they seemed to have no heart to do
any thing, not even to taste the nectar that flowed
around them, but crawled backwards and forwards, in
vacant desolation, as I have seen a poor fellow, with his
hands in his pockets, whistling vacantly and despond-
ingly about the ruins of his house that had been burned.
It is difficult to describe the bewilderment and confu-
sion of the bees of the bankrupt hive who had been
absent at the time of the catastrophe, and who arrived,
from time to time, with full cargoes from abroad. At
first they wheeled about in the air, in the place where
the fallen tree had once reared its head, astonished at
finding all a vacuum. At length, as if comprehending
their disaster, they settled down in clusters on a dry
branch of a neighbouring tree, from whence they seemed
to contemplate the prostrate ruin, and to buzz forth
doleful lamentations over the downfall of their republic.
It was a scene on which the melancholy Jacques'
might have moralised by the hour."

Park, in his Travels, mentions, that the African wildbees are often a formidable enemy to the caravans of travellers crossing the desert. The following incident, as he relates, took place near Doofroo :-" We had no sooner unloaded the asses, than some of the people, being in search of honey, unfortunately disturbed a large swarm of bees. They came out in immense numbers, and attacked men and beasts at the same time. Luckily most of the asses were loose, and galloped up the valley; but the horses and people were very much stung, and obliged to scamper off in all directions. In fact, for half an hour, the bees seemed completely to have put an end to our journey. In the evening, when they became less troublesome, and we could venture to collect our cattle, we found many of them much stung and swelled about the head. Three asses were missing one died in the evening, and one next morning. Our guide lost his horse, and many of the people were much stung about the hands and face."

In various parts of Africa, hunting for the nests of wild bees is similarly pursued by the natives of that extensive continent. In Alexander's "Expedition into the Interior of Africa," we find the following notice of a hunt of this kind :-" One of the Hottentots observed a number of bees entering a hole in the ground, which

Honey-bees exist in great numbers in Australia. In the account of an expedition in that country by May Mitchell, that gentleman observes" We were now in land flowing with milk and honey for the natives, with their new tomahawks, extracted it in abundance from the hollow branches of the trees; and it seemed that, in the season, they could find it almost every where. To such inexpert clowns, as they probably thoughts the honey and the bees were inaccessible, and inde invisible, save only when the natives cut it out and brought it to us in little sheets of bark, thus displayin a

degree of ingenuity and skill in supplying their wan which we, with all our science, could not hope to attr They would catch one of the bees, and attach to with some rosin or gum, the light down of the sof owl: thus laden, the bee would make for the bra of some lofty tree, and so betray its home of swee its keen-eyed pursuers, whose bee-chase presented deed a laughable scene."

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THE DOG.-FIELD SPORTS.

while we are asleep; another which seeks out for game in our field-sports; another which will plunge into the deepest waters, and save us from being drowned; besides many other varieties, all less or more distinct in character. The difference is so very remarkable, that the varieties would be entitled to be classed as of different species of animals, unless for the fact that they all breed together, and perpetuate mixed or mongrel varieties. This circumstance led Buffon and other naturalists to infer that all dogs whatsoever are but of one species; the physiological theory being, that no two different species can produce fertile descendants. Buffon further concluded, from a course of observations, that all are sprung from one common root, the shepherd's dog; and that climate, food, and peculiar training, have been the causes of the departure from the primeval stock. The line of argument adopted in support of this theory is, that in the animal, as in the vegetable kingdom (see article FRUIT-GARDEN), improved or very remarkable varieties can be produced by selecting kinds, and breeding from them alone; as, for example, taking the two largest dogs of a breed, and breeding from them; then taking the two largest which this pair produces, and breeding from them also; and so on, till a large variety of dogs is ultimately formed. And further, that if each generation be trained in a particular way, the variety will come to possess properties agreeable to the kind of cultivation bestowed upon it. Such, there is reason to believe, is the true explanation of the extraordinary differences of size and character in the canine species. We must view these dissimilarities as a result of a course of treatment from the earliest period of civilisation till modern times. The ancient Egyptians, and after them the Greeks, are recorded to have paid considerable attention to the training of dogs, and, as is well known, this formed a favourite study in connexion with the field-sports of later ages. Doubts may very naturally be entertained respecting the power of transmitting acquired qualities from one generation to another, of any species of animals; but investigations into the subject afford some remarkable proofs of what can be accomplished by means of careful training or teaching.

[graphic]

THE dog is an animal which seems to have been destined by the Creator to be the friend and assistant of man. Throughout the dangers and difficulties which beset the human being, particularly in an inartificial state of society, the dog has ever proved himself the kindly defender of his life and property, as well as a powerful and essential auxiliary in subduing other animals to his purpose. Without the assistance of the dog, man would not even yet have obtained a beneficial dominion over the various races of wild animals of the earth, or been able to watch with sufficient care those

creatures formed for his food.

the same

EFFECTS OF TRAINING.

According to naturalists, the dog belongs to the family of the Canide (from canis, Latin for dog, hence canine species), in the order Carnivora, class Mammalia. In family are united the wolf, fox, and jackal, and these so nearly approach the dog in physical construction, and certain habits and qualities, that some anthorities are inclined to consider them of the same species. The resemblance in some respects, and great dissimilarity in others, between dogs, wolves, foxes, and jackals, is, however, not more remarkable than the general similarity of dogs to each other, as far as In the latter part of the last century, one Bisset, a an apparent unity of species is concerned; while, at native of Perth, by trade a shoemaker, having applied the same time, there is a striking difference of form himself with great perseverance to the teaching of aniand character between opposite breeds. One dog is mals, succeeded in making a set of cats play in harmony large, another small; one is smooth in the skin, another on the dulcimer, uniting their voices to the tones of the rough; one has a long head, in another the head is instrument; and this singular orchestra was exhibited, short; one has an exquisite sense of smell, another to the perfect satisfaction of the public, for a succeshas comparatively little of that power; and so on. We sion of nights, in the Haymarket theatre. He it was have an animal which watches our flocks; another who trained that "learned pig," of which our fathers which tracks and hunts down noxious wild beasts; used to speak so highly, the animal having been exhianother which destroys and digs out vermin from the bited in every part of the empire. At a somewhat earth; another which guards our houses and lives earlier period, a Saxon peasant boy trained a dog to

the pronunciation of words. The boy had observed in | the dog's voice an indistinct resemblance to certain sounds of the human voice, and was thus prompted to endeavour to teach him to speak. The animal was three years old at the beginning of his instructions-a circumstance which must have been unfavourable to the object; yet, by dint of great labour and perseverance, in three years the boy had taught it to articulate thirty words. It used to astonish its visiters by calling for tea, coffee, chocolate, &c.; but it is proper to remark, that it required the words to be pronounced by its master beforehand, and it never appeared to become quite reconciled to the exhibitions which it was forced to make. The learned Leibnitz reported on this wonderful animal to the French Academy, attesting that he had seen the dog and heard it speak; so that there does not appear the slightest ground for doubting the fact, such as it was. All doubt on the question of possibility may, indeed, be considered as set at rest by the recent exhibition of the educated dogs in London-animals which could play at dominoes and chess, and even indicate when their adversaries made false moves. These creatures were visited and played with by thousands, and we never have heard that a deception of any kind as to the reality of their acquired powers was detected.

pened, that when left behind, she would come of her
own accord and join the pointers. "She has often stood
a jack snipe when all the pointers had passed it: she
would back the dogs when they pointed, but the dogs
refused to back her until spoke to-Toomer's dogs being
all trained to make a general halt when the word was
given, whether any dog pointed or not, so that she has
been frequently standing in the midst of a field of
pointers. In consequence of the dogs being not much
inclined to hunt when she was with them (for they
dropped their sterns, and showed symptoms of jealousy),
she did not very often accompany them, except for the
novelty. Her pace was mostly a trot; she was seldom
known to gallop, except when called to go out shooting:
she would then come home off the forest at full stretch,
and be as much elated as a dog at being shown the gun.
She always expressed great pleasure when game, either
dead or living, was placed before her. She has fre
quently stood a single partridge at forty yards' distance,
her nose in a direct line to the bird; after standing
some considerable time, she would drop like a setter,
still keeping her nose in an exact line, and would con
tinue in that position until the game moved: if it took
wing, she would come up to the place, and draw slowly
after it; and when the bird dropped, she would stand
it as before." ""*

Laying aside such extraordinary examples as these, the ordinary training conferred on horses, dogs, and other domesticated animals, seems to be sufficient to establish the general fact of animal educability. We have no more forcible illustrations of the principle than in the uses which are now made of certain of the canine tribe in rural sports. The pointer, setter, springing spaniel, and all that class of dogs, are understood to be descended from one stock, the Spanish spaniel, with a slight crossing from the fox-hound, for the sake of improving the speed. The original animal may be considered as a record of the original powers, to which every thing else must be regarded as an addition made by human training. Now, the original animal is only gifted by nature with a fine scent for game, and a disposition to make a momentary pause on seeing it, for the purpose of springing upon it.* Man has converted this inclination to a temporary pause into a habit of making a full stop, and the animal, instead of gratifying his destructive tendency by flying upon the game, has been trained to be contented with witnessing a vicarious execution by the gun of his

master.

These facts, together with what common observation presents to us in domesticated parrots, blackbirds, ravens, magpies, monkeys, &c., place the educability of animals upon a basis, in our opinion, not to be shaken. But the most wonderful thing, and the most convincing part of the proof, remains, in the fact of the transmis sion of acquired qualities by animals to progeny. The habit which education has conferred upon the pointer appears in his puppy, who may be seen earnestly standing at swallows and pigeons in a farm-yard, before he has ever once seen such a thing done by his seniors, or received the least instruction. Here only the object is amiss; the act itself is perfect. As may be readily supposed, the puppy of a race of English pointers can be trained to the whole business of the field in onetenth of the time which the most experienced breaker would require to effect any improvement upon simple instinct of the pause in an original Spanish spa niel. On the subject of the hereditary transmission acquired qualities by animals, we have some curios information from the venerable naturalist, Mr T. A. Knight.

the

In a communication to the Royal Society in 1807, Mr Knight cited several instances of domesticated animais inheriting the acquired habits of their parents. "I all animals," he says, "this is observable; but in the dog it exists to a wonderful extent; and the offspring appears to inherit not only the passions and propens sities, but even the resentments, of the family from which it springs. I ascertained that a terrier, whose parents had been in the habit of fighting with polecats, will instantly show every mark of anger when he firs perceives the scent of that animal, though the animal itself be wholly concealed from his sight. A young spaniel brought up with the terriers showed no marks of emotion at the scent of the polecat, but it pursui woodcock, the first time it saw one, with clamour an exultation: and a young pointer, which I am certa had never seen a partridge, stood trembling with anxiety, its eyes fixed and its muscles rigid, when ducted into the midst of a covey of those birds. 1 each of these dogs are mere varieties of the species, and to that species none of these habits given by nature. The peculiarities of character therefore be traced to no other source than the se quired habits of the parents, which are inherited the offspring, and become what I call instinctive kr ditary propensities."

It is a mistake to suppose that only the spaniel tribe is capable of serving sportsmen in the capacity of pointers and setters. There are other classes of dogs which perseverance would enable, to a certain extent, to act in the same way. Gervase Markham, who wrote on sports in the sixteenth century, speaks of having seen dogs of the bastard tumbler kind adapted to act as setters, though not so well as those of the spaniel kind. Mr Blaine is of opinion that this power can be cultivated in most dogs. It has even been elicited in another and very different class of animals-the hog. Some years ago, Mr Toomer, gamekeeper to Sir Henry Mildmay, bethought him of teaching a pig to act as a pointer, having been struck by the scenting powers of the animal in its search for palatable roots under ground. He began by allowing a young female pig to accompany his pointers, in their breaking lessons, to the field. Within a fortnight, to his own surprise, she was able to hunt and point partridges and rabbits. There being an abundance of these creatures near the keeper's lodge, her education advanced rapidly by frequent exercise, and in a few weeks she was able to retrieve game as well as the best pointer. Slut, as this extraordinary animal was called, was considered to have a more acute scent than any pointer in the charge of the keeper; and it was a kennel of the highest character. They hunted her principally on moors and heaths; and it often hap*Thoughts and Recollections, by one of the Last Century.

London: Murray. 1825.

Encyclopædia of Rural Sports, 792,

It appears from another communication made by Knight to the same society in 1837, that he had been pursuing investigations on this subject for pe sixty years. He proceeds in that communication =

*Daniel's Rural Sports.

give a general account of his investigations :-" At the To conclude these preliminary observations on dogs. period," he says, "at which my experiments commenced, A gentleman of our acquaintance, and of scientific acwell-bred and well-taught springing spaniels were abun- quirements, obtained some years ago a pup which had dant, and I readily obtained possession of as many as been produced in London by a female of the celebrated I wanted. I had at first no other object than that of St Bernard's breed. The young animal was brought obtaining dogs of great excellence; but within a very to Scotland, where it was never observed to give any short time, some facts came under my observation which particular tokens of a power of tracking footsteps until very strongly arrested my attention. In several in-winter, when the ground became covered with snow. stances, young and wholly inexperienced dogs appeared It then showed the most active inclination to follow very nearly as expert in finding woodcocks as their ex- footsteps; and so great was its power of doing so under perienced parents. The woods in which I was accus- these circumstances, that when its master had crossed tomed to shoot did not contain pheasants, nor much a field in the most curvilinear way, and caused other game of any other kind, and I therefore resolved never persons to cross his path in all directions, it nevertheto shoot at any thing except woodcocks, conceiving that less followed his course with the greatest precision. by so doing the hereditary propensities above mentioned Here was a perfect revival of the habit of its Alpine would become more obvious and decided in the young fathers, with a degree of specialty as to external conand untaught animals; and I had the satisfaction, in ditions, at which, it seems to us, we cannot sufficiently more than one instance, to see some of these find as wonder. many woodcocks, and give tongue as correctly, as the best of my older dogs.

We thus see that not only does what metaphysicians call the law of habit exercise a sway in the intellects of Woodcocks are driven in frosty weather, as is well animals, but that modification which takes place in known, to seek their food in springs and rills of unfrozen human communities, and passes under the comprehenwater, and I found that my old dogs knew about as well sive name of civilisation, also affects the lower tribes of as I did the degree of frost which would drive the wood-creation. A race of animals, like a race of men, is civicocks to such places; and this knowledge proved very troublesome to me, for I could not sufficiently restrain them. I therefore left the old experienced dogs at home, and took only the wholly inexperienced young dogs; but, to my astonishment, some of these, in several instances, confined themselves as closely to the unfrozen grounds as their parents would have done. When I first observed this, I suspected that woodcocks might have been upon the unfrozen ground during the preceding night; but I could not discover (as I think I should have done had this been the case) any traces of their having been there; and as I could not do so, I was led to conclude that the young dogs were guided by feelings and propensities similar to those of their

parents.

lisable; and we cannot doubt that the same softening influences which have produced the advanced nations of Europe, have operated upon the animals existing in the same countries, and made them very different from what they were in early times. It cannot escape remark, that the whole principle of civilisation acquires strength from having its basis thus widened. We be come the more confident in the improvability of our own species, when we find that even the lower animals are capable of being improved, through a succession of generations, by the constant presence of a meliorating agency.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF DOGS.

The dog has six incisory or cutting teeth in both The subjects of my observation in these cases were jaws; beyond which there are, on each side, both above all the offspring of well-instructed parents, of five or and below, a canine tooth; and still farther into the six years old or more; and I thought it not impro- mouth are six cheek-teeth, or molars, in each side of bable that instinctive hereditary propensities might be the upper jaw. The three first are sharp and cutting, stronger in these than in the offspring of very young which Cuvier calls false molars. The next tooth on and inexperienced parents. Experience proved this each side is a carnivorous tooth, furnished with two opinion to be well founded, and led me to believe that cutting lobes, beyond which the other two teeth on each these propensities might be made to cease to exist, and side are flat. There are seven cheek teeth, on both others to be given; and that the same breed of dogs sides, in the under jaw; four of these are false molars, which displayed so strongly an hereditary disposition to a carnivorous tooth, with the posterior part flat, and hunt after woodcocks, might be made ultimately to dis-behind it two tuberculous teeth. The muzzle is elonplay a similar propensity to hunt after trufles; and it gated, subject to great variety of length in different may, I think, be reasonably doubted whether any dog, varieties. The tongue is smooth and soft; the ears having the habits and propensities of the springing erect in the wild varieties, and in some of the tame spaniel, would ever have been known, if the art of ones, but, in the latter kinds, for the most part penshooting birds on the wing had not been acquired. dulous. The fore-feet are provided with five toes, and I possessed one young spaniel, of which the male the hind-feet with four toes, furnished with rather parent, apparently a well-bred springing spaniel, had longish nails, obtuse at their points, and not retractile. leen taught to do a great number of extraordinary The females are provided with both inguinal and ventricks, and of which the female parent was a well-bred tral teats. The pupils of the eyes are circular. springing spaniel; the puppy had been taught, before it came into my possession, a part of the accomplishments of its male parent. In one instance I had walked cut with my gun and a servant, without any dog; and having seen a woodcock, I sent for the dog above mentoned, which the servant brought to me. A month afterwards, I sent my servant for it again, under similar rcumstances, when it acted as if it had inferred that the track by which the servant had come from me would lead it to me. It left my servant within twenty yards of my house, and was with me in a very few ainutes, though the distance which it had to run exceeded a mile. I repeated this experiment at different The average age to which dogs live is about fourteen ines, and after considerable intervals, and uniformly years; they frequently, however, live to sixteen, and ith the same results, the dog always coming to me even have been known to attain the age of twenty years. hout the servant. I could mention several other In their latter days, dogs frequently suffer greatly from stances, nearly as singular, of the sagacity of this decay, and various diseases. They are extremely subnimal, which I imagined to have derived its extraor-ject to rheumatism, from their liability to exposure to ated intellect of its male parent." mary powers in some degree from the highly culti- rain, and damp beds.

The female goes with young sixty-three days, and generally produces from three to five at a birth, and sometimes even twelve, which are at first blind, in which state they continue for from nine days to a fortnight. About the end of two months, their faculties begin to develop themselves. They shed their first teeth at the end of six months, which are replaced by others that do not exfoliate. At twenty months, or two years, dogs arrive at their full vigour.

The males continue to propagate for nearly their whole lives, while the female discontinues having young ones at about the age of eight or nine years.

Until dogs have attained seven or eight years, their

greatest utility to man, and also the most intelligent.

teeth are white, smooth, and acutely pointed; but after | included all the varieties of dogs which are of the this age they become yellow spotted, and their points assume an uneven and jagged appearance. At this time, also, the hair of the muzzle and around the eyes assumes a hoary appearance, and becomes whiter as they increase in years.

The dog is naturally carnivorous, but when domesticated, he does not refuse farinaceous food. He uses grass as a vomit; and drinks by lapping with his long flexible tongue. He does not sensibly perspire by the skin; the superfluous moisture of the body escapes at the mouth by panting, when heated, and by the extraordinary diuretic habits of the animal. The sense of smell is different in different varieties, but in all is sufficiently strong and refined to enable the dog to seek out and follow his master even among a crowd. His sense of hearing is also quick. He expresses anger by growling or barking, but also barks when joyful; and shows delight by the wagging of his tail. He sleeps very lightly, so as to be awakened by the slightest noise; and during his slumbers he is apt to dream, as is indicated by starting, whining, and short barks.

III. DOGUES.-The muzzle more or less shortened; the skull high; the frontal sinuses considerable; the condyle of the lower jaw extending above the line of the upper cheek-teeth. The cranium is smaller in this group than in the two previous, owing to the formation of the head.

Following this arrangement, the three groups have, for convenience, been divided into distinct sections, as follows :-

The most remarkable feature in the character of the dog is his attachment to man. In wild unpeopled countries, dogs are known to live in hordes, and seek their prey like other untamed animals; but brought into connexion with human society, the dog leaves his own species without regret, and is only happy when belonging to a master to whom he can be faithful as a friend, servant, or companion. In this condition of domestication his ambition seems to be the desire to please; he is seen to come crouching along, to lay his force, his courage, and all his useful talents, at the feet of his master he waits his orders, to which he pays implicit obedience he consults his looks, and a single glance is sufficient to put him in motion: he is more faithful than even the most boasted among men: he is constant in his affections, friendly without interest, and grateful for the slightest favours: much more mindful of benefits received than injuries offered, he is not driven off by unkindness: he still continues humble, submissive, and imploring; his only hope to be serviceable, his only terror to displease: he licks the hand that has just been lifted to strike him, and at last disarms resentment by submissive perseverance.

Division I.-Head Elongated.

Section 1. Wild and half-reclaimed dogs, which hunt in packs.

Section 2. Domesticated dogs, which hunt in packs or singly, principally by the eye, although sometimes by the scent.

Section 3. Domesticated dogs, which hunt singly, and always by the eye.

Division II.-Head less Elongated than former Division. Section 4. Pastoral dogs, or such as are employed in domestic purposes.

Section 5. Water-dogs, which delight in swimming, having their feet in general semi-webbed.

Section 6. Fowlers, or dogs whose natural inclination is to chase and point birds, and huut singly by the scent.

More docile than man, as Buffon observes, more obedient than any other animal, he is not only instructed in a short time, but he also conforms to the dispositions and manners of those who command him. He takes his tone from the house he inhabits: like the rest of the domestics, he is disdainful among the great, and churlish among clowns. He knows a beggar by his clothes, by his voice, or his gestures, and forbids his approach. When, at night, the protection of the house is committed to his care, he seems proud of the charge; he continues a watchful sentinel; he goes his rounds, scents strangers at a distance, and gives them a warning of his being upon duty. If they attempt to break in upon his territories, he becomes more fierce, flies at them, threatens, fights, and either conquers alone, or alarms those who have most interest in coming to his assistance; however, when he has conquered, he quietly reposes upon his spoil, and abstains from abusing thus giving at once a lesson of courage, temperance,

Section 7. Hounds, which hunt in packs, by the scent. Section 8. Mongrel hounds, which hunt singly, either by the scent or eye.

Division III.-Head much Shortened.

Section 9. Watch-dogs, which have no propensity for hunting.

We shall now present a short notice of the different varieties or breeds in each of the several divisions and sections.

Division I-Dogs with Lengthened Heads. SECTION 1. Half-reclaimed dogs, which hunt in packs. The Dingo, or Australian Dog.The head of this dag is not unlike that of a wolf, on which account Bewick calls it the New South Wales wolf. The muzzle is long and pointed, with short erect ears. He is two feet six inches in length, and about two feet in height. His fur is composed of a mixture of silky and woolly hairs, and is of a deep yellowish-brown colour; and his tail is long and bushy, resembling that of a fox. This deg is of a ferocious disposition. Pennant mentions ene which was brought to this country, and that leaped en the back of an ass, and had nearly destroyed it before a rescue could take place.

The Dhole is the native wild-dog of India, and bears a strong resemblance to the dingo, but without the bushy tail of that species; he is of a uniform bright red colour. Differently from other dogs which hunt a packs, according to the account given by Captain Williamson, this species always hunts mute, and only utters a soft whispering sound when in high chase, and near his prey. The dhole is exceedingly swift of foot, and soon overtakes most animals which are the objects of s pursuit. It is said they are exceedingly fond of the flesh of the tiger, and that, in consequence, this anima is prevented from propagating to that extent which would soon overrun and lay waste all the countries which it inhabits. This predilection is confirme by Bishop Heber, who states, upon the authority the peasants of Khaysa, which borders the frontiers of China, that a tiger is often killed and torn to pieces gated; the parietal bones insensibly approaching each I. MATINS. These have a head more or less elon- by the wild dogs, which give tongue like foxhounds other, and the condyles of the lower jaw placed in horizontal line with the upper cheek-teeth.

and fidelity.

CLASSIFICATION OF VARIETIES,

Cuvier, the eminent French naturalist, formed a classification of dogs, founded on the shape of the head, and length of the jaws and muzzle. These he has separated into three great groups, as follows :—

a

harriers. It is in the unfrequented wilds of the wester
frontiers of India that the dhole takes up his aber
mighty tracts of that territory.
lurking amongst the extensive jungles which co

II. SPANIELS.-The head moderately elongated; the parietal bones do not approach each other above the temples, but diverge and swell out, so as to enlarge the has a small sharp head, with short pricket The Pariah is the common village dog of India. I forehead and cavity of the brain. In this group are slender body, and particularly drawn up about

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