THE Dog-The Mackenzie River Dog-The Dingo of Australia-The Wild Dog of Deccan-The Esquimaux Dog- The Shepherd's Dog-The Scotch Collie-The Cur, or Drover's Dog-The Siberian Dog-The Greyhound- The Alpine, or Great St. Bernard Dog-The Newfoundland Dog-The Talbot, or Old English Hound-The Foxhound-The Staghound-The Bloodhound-The Pointer-The Setter-The Beagle-The Harrier- The Dalmatian, or Coach Dog-The Lurcher-The Spaniel-The Cocker-The Blenheim-The Water Spaniel-The Rough Water Dog-The Poodle-The Mastiff-The Thibet Mastiff-The Bull Dog-The Bull Terrier-The English Terrier-The Scotch Terrier-The Matin Dog-The Common Wolf-The Primæval Dog-The Black Wolf-The Dusky Wolf-The Wolf of the South American States-The North American Wolf-The Prairie Wolf-The Aguara Guazu-The Aguara Dogs-The Abyssinian Wolf-The Indian Wolf-Wolves of Asia Minor-Indian Wolves-The Beriah-The Jackal-The Common Fox-The Red Fox-The Black, or Silver Fox-The Tri-Coloured Fox-The Syrian Fox-The Blue Fox-The Fennec -The Otocyon-The Cynhyæna-The Domestic Cat-The Angora Cat-The Persian Cat-The Tortoise- shell Cat-The Tail-less Cat-The Canadian Cat-The Wild Cat of France-The Tiger Cat of Sumatra -The Wild Cat of Caffraria-The Serval Cat-The Wild Cat-The Lion-The Maneless Lion-The Puma, or American Lion-The Tiger-The Tree Tiger-The Leopard-The Panther-The Jaguar-The Cheetah, or Hunting Leopard-The Ounce-The Ocelot-The European Lynx-The Caracal-The Striped Hyæna-The Spotted Hyæna-The Villose Hyæna-The Proteles-The Common Badger-The American Badger-The Indian Badger-The Glutton, or Wolverene-The Cape Ratel-The Indian Ratel-The Common Weasel-The Stoat, or Ermine Weasel-The Pine Marten-The Beech Marten-The Sable-The Polecat, or Foumart-The Ferret-The Cape Polecat, or Zorille-The Sea Otter-The Common Otter-The The Mammoth, or Elephant of the Lena-The Elephant of India-The African Elephant-The Horses of Arabia-The Horses of Northern Europe-The Horses of England-The Horses of France-The Zebra- The Quagga-The Wild Ass-The Domestic Ass-The Mule-The American Tapir-The Indian Tapir-The Daman-The Syrian Daman-The Rhinoceros-The Indian Rhinoceros-The White, or Blunt-Nosed Rhinoceros-The Hippopotamus-The Hog--The Babiroussa-The White-Lipped Peccary-The Collared Peccary-The Phacochere―The Abyssinian Phacochere-The Red Phacochere The Bovine Tribe-Chillingham Wild Cattle-Scottish Cattle-Durham Cattle-Devon Cattle-Sussex Cattle- Welsh Cattle-Long Horns and Short Horns-French Cattle-Swiss Cattle-Dutch Cattle-Spanish and Portuguese Cattle-The Zebu-The Brahmin Bull-The Yak-The European Bison-The American Bison- The Buffalo-The Cape Buffalo-The Gayal-The Mouflon-The Fat-Tailed Sheep-The Rocky Mountain Sheep-The Domestic Sheep-The Aoudad-The Cotswold-The Dishley-The South Down-The Dorset- shire, and the Cheviot Sheep-Sheep of France-The Ibex-The Goat-The Alpaca-The Angora Goat- The Goat of France-The Cashmere Goat-Antelopes of the Field-Cervine Antelopes-Goat-like Antelopes- Antelopes of the Desert-True Antelopes-The Ariel Gazelle-The Chamois-Equine Antelopes-The Gnu-- The Leucoryx-The Harnessed Antelope-The Nilgai-The Elk-The Rein Deer-The Stag-The Giraffe- TOOTHLESS ANIMALS. The Dog-Headed Thylacinus-The Virginian Opossum-Cook's Opossum-The Vulpine Opossum-The Flying Squirrel-The Ashy Koala-The Kangaroo Rat-The Kangaroo -The Wombat-The Porcupine Ant-Eater- The Duck-Billed Platypus-The Common Seal-The Marbled Seal-The Crested Seal-The Ursine Seal- OGS of all varieties have been included with the fox, the wolf, and the jackal, in one genus, because these animals are closely assimilated in external character and anatomical structure. They have the same kinds of teeth, the canines being strong, conical, pointed, and curved slightly backwards; and the incisors six above and five below. There are five toes on the fore feet and four on the posterior, to which is sometimes added a small rudimentary claw. Among the remains of ancient Egypt we have many traces of the dog. In its paintings we observe coupled a tall, light hound with. pendent ears, and a greyhound with sharp, erect ears and a pointed muzzle. Besides these, there is a small dog with erect ears, and a tail curled up like that of a pug-dog, but with a sharper muzzle; it has an ornamental collar round its neck, and was probably a pet or favourite house-dog. There is also the figure of a hound sitting in • Canis. VOL. II. 49 the usual attitude; and a low, long-backed, short-legged dog, with erect ears, a sharp mazzie, and parti-coloured dark, or black and white. It resembles the old turnspit of England, and was probably of the same breed. There is a tall, stout dog, compact and muscular, with high shoulders and broad chest, most probably a watch-dog: its ears are small and sharp, and its tail curled like that of a pug-dog; the muzzle is moderately sharp. There is, moreover, a small, slender dog, with a narrow, sharp muzzle, and large, erect, and pointed ears, broad at the base; the tail makes a single loop or curl, and the end is somewhat tufted. But the most common kind was a sort of fox-dog, which is probably the parent stock of the modern red wild dog of Egypt, according to Sir J. G. Wilkinson. In one representation we see fleet hounds in chase of antelopes, wild goats, hyenas, foxes, ostriches, and hares. Some of the dogs have a collar armed with spikes. In some instances the tail of the greyhound appears rather full or fringed. Such then were, at least, some of the domesticated races of Egypt, and doubtless Western Asia. Ælian, a Greek writer on natural history, mentions that the dogs of Egypt were celebrated for their speed. The same quickness enabled them, according to him, to avoid the crocodile while drinking at the Nile. They feared, he says, to drink at any one spot, but "they run by the edge of the stream, and, licking the water as they pass, they may be said to snatch, or even to steal, a draught, before their enemy, lurking beneath the surface, can rise to the attack." The dog was held in great veneration by the ancient Egyptians; but it does not appear that it was worshipped with the same solemnity as the hawk, the cat, or the ape. At one city, Cynopolis, it received divine honours; and we read of a civil war between the inhabitants and those of a neighbouring town, because the latter profanely killed and ate the sacred animal. When a dog died, all the inmates of the house shaved their heads and their whole body, and if any food happened to be in the house at the time, it was forbidden to be applied to any use. * Their bodies were embalmed, and deposited in pits, like those of other sacred creatures. Sir Gardiner Wilkinson states that it is an error to imagine that the god Anubis had a dog's head. His emblem was a jackal, not a dog. Herodotus states that the satrap of Babylon kept so many Indian dogs, that four considerable towns in the plain were exempted from all taxes, on condition of providing food for them. That the dog was domesticated among the Greeks from the earliest ages is evident from the works of Homer. It appears, moreover, that the Greeks were the first European nation who used dogs in hunting. It is difficult to ascertain what was the precise species of dog employed by them. The favourite dog of Alcibiades, of which a sculptured representation has been preserved, differs but little, according to Youatt, from the Newfoundland dog of the present day. The Greek writers have left us treatises upon the best breed of dogs for the chase, and the mode of training them for that purpose. Arrian, one of these, eloquently declaims in favour of fair hunting, saying "that there is as much difference between a fair trial of speed in a good run, and censuring a poor animal without an effort, as between the secret, piratical assaults of robbers at sea, and the victorious naval engage ments of the Athenians at Salamis and at Artemisium." The Romans used dogs largely as a guard, and the inscription, Cave canem! ("Beware of the dog!") may still be seen on the mosaic floors of Pompeii, beneath a spirited portrait of a mastiff tugging at his chain and barking furiously. In the Old Testament the dog is spoken of with expressions of scorn and contempt, which contrast strangely with the reverence with which we have seen that it was regarded by the Egyptians, among whom the Jews sojourned so long. It seems to have been used as a common scavenger of the camp, as we find this precept, "Neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs." The "price of a dog" is mentioned as one of the offerings that might not be offered at the house of the Lord. Three times in the First Book of Kings, the same fate is declared, by the mouth of the Lord, against the disobedient—against Jeroboam, against Baasha, and against Ahab and Jezebel: "Him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat." This language, used as it is again and again, is evidently intended to signify the most disgraceful of deaths.§ * Wilkinson's "Ancient Egypt," vol. v., p. 140. + Deut. xxiii. 18. § See Bell's "Quadrupeds," p. 205. The modern Mussulmen seem to have adopted in this, as in many other cases, the language and feelings of Scripture. They regard the dog as unclean. The laxest of their sects considers a man defiled who has so much as touched a dog's nose. Its presence is believed to scare away good spirits. "Dog of a Christian" is the term by which they indicate their dislike. To call a man "a Jew's dog" is the climax of insult. They still use them throughout the East as scavengers, treating them with kindness rather than the reverse, from a knowledge of the great service they render. The dogs of Constantinople at the present time belong to everybody and to nobody; the streets are their homes. Though a worrying nuisance to walkers, their general utility is obvious; for, as the Turks throw the leavings of their kitchens out of doors, the streets would very soon be impassable, but for the scavenger-like propensities of the dogs and the storks, assisted occasionally by the vultures. "No one," says Gadsby, "admits them into their houses, but everybody feeds them. Some of the tradesmen give them credit for so much meat a day at the butchers' shops, which dog and butcher alike understand and value. I have seen nearly a dozen standing opposite a butcher's shop, waiting to be fed." As they subsist entirely on charity and what they pick up, instinct teaches them the necessity of a division of labour; and, therefore, as a company of beggars has separate walks for its members, so these dogs divide the city and its suburbs into districts. "Were one found," says Mr. Slade, "in a strange quarter, he would infallibly be torn in pieces by the resident dogs; and so well are they aware of this, that no argument, not even a bone of roast meat, will induce a dog to follow a person beyond his district. We caressed, for experiment, one of these animals, whose post, with many others, was near the Mevlevi Khan. We daily fed him, till he became fat and sleek, and carried his tail high, and was no longer to be recognised for his former self. With his physical, his moral qualities improved. He lost his currishness, and, when his patrons approached, expressed gratitude by licking their hands; yet he would never follow them beyond an imaginary limit either way, when he would stop, wag his tail, look wistfully after them till they were out of sight, and then return to his post. Once only I saw him overstep his limit. He was very hungry, and we were alluring him with tempting food; but he had not exceeded twenty yards, when he recollected himself and ran hastily back. I cannot say if any order of precedency is observed in gaining the best stations, as near a butcher's shop or a khan." The sight that the renegade saw at night, after the battle, in Byron's "Siege of Corinth," is a true picture of what may be seen daily in an Eastern city : "He saw the lean dogs beneath the wall Hold o'er the dead their carnival, Gorging and growling o'er carcase and limb; In former times dogs were treated here with special honour. "The Great Turk's dogs, and the manner of keeping them," says the merchant Sanderson, "are worth the sight; for they have their several attendants, as if they were great heroes, and have their clothing of cloth of gold, velvet, scarlet, and other colours of cloth; their sundry couches, and the places where they are kept most cleanly. My Lord Zouch, when he was there, as Master Burton said, did like exceedingly well of this place and attendance of the dogs. When the Great Turk went out of the city toward the wars, it was with wonderful great solemnity and notable order, too long to describe particularly; but I remember a great number of dogs led afore him, well manned, and in their best apparel-cloth of gold, velvet, scarlet, and purple cloth." Several attempts have been made to classify the various races of dogs, but with little success. Mr. Bell considers that they all possess "very little truth, in a zoological point of view, and as little practical advantage."+ We shall, in describing the different dogs, divide them into the groups into which they naturally fall. A few general peculiarities remain to be noticed. On the face of the dog are certain small tubercles or warts, giving forth a few stiff hairs: one on each side, beyond the angle of the mouth; a smaller one often scarcely discernible, nearer to the ear; and one on the under jaw, beyond the chin. There is a small patch on the under surface of the tail, about its centre, where the hair often appears deficient. It is most conspicuous in smooth-haired dogs. The tail is turned upwards, and generally inclined slightly to the left, sometimes considerably; and, as the right shoulder is rather more advanced than the opposite, there is a somewhat oblique modo of + Bell's "British Quadrupeds," p. 203. * See p. 68. |