Under this point of view I was anxious to obtain information in regard to the Scotch deerhound, the sexes of which differ more in size than those of any other breed (though blood-hounds differ considerably), or than in any wild canine species known to me.
Accordingly, I applied to Mr. Cupples, a well-known breeder of these dogs, who has weighed and measured many of his own dogs, and who, with great kindness, has collected for me the following facts from various sources. Superior male dogs, measured at the shoulder, range from twenty-eight inches, which is low, to thirty-three, or even thirty-four inches in height; and in weight from eighty pounds, which is low, to 120, or even more pounds. The females range in height from twenty-three to twenty-seven, or even to twenty-eight inches; and in weight from fifty to seventy, or even eighty pounds.[321] Mr. Cupples concludes that from ninety-five to one hundred pounds for the male, and seventy for the female, would be a safe average; but there is reason to believe that formerly both sexes attained a greater weight. Mr. Cupples has weighed puppies when a fortnight old; in one litter the average weight of four males exceeded that of two females by six and a half ounces; in another litter the average weight of four males exceeded that of one female by less than one ounce; the same males, when three weeks old, exceeded the female by seven and a half ounces, and at the age of six weeks by nearly fourteen ounces. Mr. Wright of Yeldersley House, in a letter to Mr. Cupples, says: “I have taken notes on the sizes and weights of puppies of many litters, and as far as my experience goes, dog-puppies as a rule differ very little from bitches till they arrive at about five or six months old; and then the dogs begin to increase, gaining upon the bitches both in weight and size. At birth, and for several weeks afterwards, a bitch-puppy will occasionally be larger than any of the dogs, but they are invariably beaten by them later.” Mr. McNeill, of Colinsay, concludes that “the males do not attain their full growth till over two years old, though the females attain it sooner.” According to Mr. Cupples’ experience, male dogs go on growing in stature till they are from twelve to eighteen months old, and in weight till from eighteen to twenty-four months old; whilst the females cease increasing in stature at the age of from nine to fourteen or fifteen months, and in weight at the age of from twelve to fifteen months. From these various statements it is clear that the full difference in size between the male and female Scotch deerhound is not acquired until rather late in life. The males are almost exclusively used for coursing, for, as Mr. McNeill informs me, the females have not sufficient strength and weight to pull down a full-grown deer. From the names used in old legends, it appears, as I hear from Mr. Cupples, that at a very ancient period the males were the most celebrated, the females being mentioned only as the mothers of famous dogs. Hence during many generations, it is the male which has been chiefly tested for strength, size, speed, and courage, and the best will have been bred from. As, however, the males do not attain their full dimensions until a rather late period in life, they will have tended, in accordance with the law often indicated, to transmit their characters to their male offspring alone; and thus the great inequality in size between the sexes of the Scotch deerhound may probably be accounted for.
The males of some few quadrupeds possess organs or parts developed solely as a means of defence against the attacks of other males. Some kinds of deer use, as we have seen, the upper branches of their horns chiefly or exclusively for defending themselves; and the Oryx antelope, as I am informed by Mr. Bartlett, fences most skilfully with his long, gently curved horns; but these are likewise used as organs of offence. Rhinoceroses, as the same observer remarks, in fighting parry each other’s sidelong blows with their horns, which loudly clatter together, as do the tusks of boars. Although wild boars fight desperately together, they seldom, according to Brehm, receive fatal blows, as these fall on each other’s tusks, or on the layer of gristly skin covering the shoulder, which the German hunters call the shield; and here we have a part specially modified for defence. With boars in the prime
Fig. 63. Head of common wild boar, in prime of life (from Brehm). of life (see fig. 63) the tusks in the lower jaw are used for fighting but they become in old age, as Brehm states, so much curved inwards and upwards, over the snout, that they can no longer be thus used. They may, however, still continue to serve, and even in a still more effective manner, as a means of defence. In compensation for the loss of the lower tusks as weapons of offence, those in the upper jaw, which always project a little laterally, increase so much in length during old age, and curve so much upwards, that they can be used as a means of attack. Nevertheless an old boar is not so dangerous to man as one at the age of six or seven years.[322]
Fig. 64. Skull of the Babirusa Pig (from Wallace’s ‘Malay Archipelago’).
In the full-grown male Babirusa pig of Celebes (fig. [64]), the lower tusks are formidable weapons, like those of the European boar in the prime of life, whilst the upper tusks are so long and have their points so much curled inwards, sometimes even touching the forehead, that they are utterly useless as weapons of attack. They more nearly resemble horns than teeth, and are so manifestly useless as teeth that the animal was formerly supposed to rest his head by hooking them on to a branch. Their convex surfaces would, however, if the head were held a little laterally, serve as an excellent guard; and hence, perhaps it is that in old animals they “are generally broken off, as if by fighting.”[323] Here, then, we have the curious case of the upper tusks of the Babirusa regularly assuming during the prime of life, a structure which apparently renders them fitted only for defence; whilst in the European boar the lower and opposite tusks assume in a less degree and only during old age nearly the same form, and then serve in like manner solely for defence.