Mr. Hodgson has favoured the Zoological Society with an account of
THE WILD DOG OF NEPÂL,
the búánsú, and, finding it more or less prevailing through the whole of Northern India, and even southward of the coast of Coromandel, he thought that he had discovered the primitive race of the dog. This is a point that can never be decided. "These dogs hunt their prey by night, as well as by day, in packs of from six to ten individuals, maintaining the chace more by the scent than by the eye, and generally succeeding by dint of strength and perseverance. While hunting, they bark like the hound, yet the bark is peculiar and equally unlike that of the cultivated breeds of dogs, and the cries of the jackal and the fox." Bishop Heber gives the following account of them. "They are larger and stronger than a fox, which in the circumstances of form and fur they much resemble. They hunt, however, in packs, give tongue like dogs, and possess an exquisite scent. They make of course tremendous havoc among the game in these hills; but that mischief they are said amply to repay by destroying wild beasts and even tigers."[1]
Wild dogs are susceptible of certain social combinations. In Egypt, Constantinople, and throughout the whole of the East, there are in every village troops of wandering dogs who belong to no particular person. Each troop has its own quarter of the place; and, if any wander into a quarter which does not belong to him, its inhabitants unite together and chase him out. At the Cape of Good Hope there are many dogs half-starved. On going from home the natives induce two or more of these animals to accompany them, warn them of the approach of any ferocious animal, and, if any of the jackals approach the walls during the night, they utter the most piercing cries, and at this signal every dog sallies out, and, uniting together, put the jackals to speedy flight.[2]
The wild Nepál dogs caught when at an adult age make no approach towards domestication; but a young one, which Mr. Hodgson obtained when it was not more than a month old, became sensible to caresses, and manifested as much intelligence as any sporting dog of the same age.[3]
Captain T. Williamson gives an interesting account of the ferocious character of some of these wild dogs. "They have considerable resemblance to the jackal in form. They are remarkably savage, and frequently will approach none but their doonahs or keepers, not allowing their own masters to come near them. Some of them are very fleet; but they are not to be depended upon in coursing; for they are apt suddenly to give up the chace when it is a severe one, and, indeed, they will too often prefer a sheep or a goat to a hare. In hog-hunting they are more valuable. It seems to suit their temper and they appear to enjoy the snapping and the snarling, incident to that species of sports."
He says that many persons affect to treat the idea of degeneration in quadrupeds with ridicule; but all who have been any considerable time resident in India must be satisfied that dogs of European breed become, after every successive generation, more and more similar to the
