which had not learned to bark; but this view does not seem probable, as the natives along the line of their march from the north reclaimed, as we have seen, at least two N. American species of Canidæ.
Turning to the Old World, some European dogs closely resemble the wolf; thus the shepherd dog of the plains of Hungary is white or reddish-brown, has a sharp nose, short, erect ears, shaggy coat, and bushy tail, and so much resembles a wolf that Mr. Paget, who gives this description, says he has known a Hungarian mistake a wolf for one of his own dogs. Jeitteles, also, remarks on the close similarity of the Hungarian dog and wolf. Shepherd dogs in Italy must anciently have closely resembled wolves, for Columella (vii. 12) advises that white dogs be kept, adding, "pastor album probat, ne pro lupo canem feriat." Several accounts have been given of dogs and wolves crossing naturally; and Pliny asserts that the Gauls tied their female dogs in the woods that they might cross with wolves.[[23]] The European wolf differs slightly from that of North America, and has been ranked by many naturalists as a distinct species. The common wolf of India is also by some esteemed as a third species, and here again we find a marked resemblance between the pariah dogs of certain districts of India and the Indian wolf.[[24]]
With respect to Jackals, Isidore Geoffroy Saint Hilaire[[25]] says that not one constant difference can be pointed out between their structure and that of the smaller races of dogs. They agree closely in habits: jackals, when tamed and called by their
master, wag their tails, crouch, and throw themselves on their backs; they smell at the tails of dogs, and void their urine sideways.[[26]] A number of excellent naturalists, from the time of Güldenstädt to that of Ehrenberg, Hemprich, and Cretzschmar, have expressed themselves in the strongest terms with respect to the resemblance of the half-domestic dogs of Asia and Egypt to jackals. M. Nordmann, for instance, says, "Les chiens d'Awhasie ressemblent étonnamment à des chacals." Ehrenberg[[27]] asserts that the domestic dogs of Lower Egypt, and certain mummied dogs, have for their wild type a species of wolf (C. lupaster) of the country; whereas the domestic dogs of Nubia and certain other mummied dogs have the closest relation to a wild species of the same country, viz. C. sabbar, which is only a form of the common jackal. Pallas asserts that jackals and dogs sometimes naturally cross in the East; and a case is on record in Algeria.[[28]] The greater number of naturalists divide the jackals of Asia and Africa into several species, but some few rank them all as one.
I may add that the domestic dogs on the coast of Guinea are fox-like animals, and are dumb.[[29]] On the east coast of Africa, between lat. 4° and 6° south, and about ten days' journey in the interior, a semi-domestic dog, as the Rev. S. Erhardt informs me, is kept, which the natives assert is derived from a similar wild animal. Lichtenstein[[30]] says that the dogs of the Bosjemans present a striking resemblance even in colour (excepting the black stripe down the back) with the C. mesomelas of South Africa. Mr. E. Layard informs me that he has seen a Caffre dog which closely resembled an Esquimaux dog. In Australia the Dingo is both domesticated and wild; though this animal may have been introduced aboriginally by man, yet it must be considered as almost an endemic form, for its remains have been found in a similar state of preservation and associated with
extinct mammals, so that its introduction must have been ancient.[[31]]
From this resemblance in several countries of the half-domesticated dogs to the wild species still living there,—from the facility with which they can often be crossed together,—from even half-tamed animals being so much valued by savages,—and from the other circumstances previously remarked on which favour their domestication, it is highly probable that the domestic dogs of the world have descended from two good species of wolf (viz. C. lupus and C. latrans), and from two or three other doubtful species of wolves (namely, the European, Indian, and North African forms); from at least one or two South American canine species; from several races or species of the jackal; and perhaps from one or more extinct species. Those authors who attribute great influence to the action of climate by itself may thus account for the resemblance of the domesticated dogs and native animals in the same countries; but I know of no facts supporting the belief in so powerful an action of climate.
It cannot be objected to the view of several canine species having been anciently domesticated, that these animals are tamed with difficulty: facts have been already given on this head, but I may add that the young of the Canis primævus of India were tamed by Mr. Hodgson,[[32]] and became as sensible to caresses, and manifested as much intelligence, as any sporting dog of the same age. There is not much difference, as we have already shown and shall immediately further see, in habits between the domestic dogs of the North American Indians and the wolves of that country, or between the Eastern pariah dogs and jackals, or between the dogs which have run wild in various countries and the several natural species of the family. The habit of barking, however, which is almost universal with domesticated
dogs, and which does not characterise a single natural species of the family, seems an exception; but this habit is soon lost and soon reacquired. The case of the wild dogs on the island of Juan Fernandez having become dumb has often been quoted, and there is reason to believe[[33]] that the dumbness ensued in the course of thirty-three years; on the other hand, dogs taken from this island by Ulloa slowly reacquired the habit of barking. The Mackenzie-river dogs, of the Canis latrans type, when brought to England, never learned to bark properly; but one born in the Zoological Gardens[[34]] "made his voice sound as loudly as any other dog of the same age and size." According to Professor Nillson,[[35]] a wolf-whelp reared by a bitch barks. I. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire exhibited a jackal which barked with the same tone as any common dog.[[36]] An interesting account has been given by Mr. G. Clarke[[37]] of some dogs run wild on Juan de Nova, in the Indian Ocean; "they had entirely lost the faculty of barking; they had no inclination for the company of other dogs, nor did they acquire their voice," during a captivity of several months. On the island they "congregate in vast packs, and catch sea-birds with as much address as foxes could display." The feral dogs of La Plata have not become dumb; they are of large size, hunt single or in packs, and burrow holes for their young.[[38]] In these habits the feral dogs of La Plata resemble wolves and jackals; both of which hunt either singly or in packs, and burrow holes.[[39]] These feral dogs have not become uniform in colour on Juan Fernandez, Juan de Nova, or La Plata.[[40]] In Cuba the feral dogs are described by Poeppig as nearly all mouse-coloured, with short ears and light-blue eyes.
In St. Domingo, Col. Ham. Smith says[[41]] that the feral dogs are very large, like greyhounds, of a uniform pale blue-ash, with small ears, and large light-brown eyes. Even the wild Dingo, though so anciently naturalised in Australia, "varies considerably in colour," as I am informed by Mr. P. P. King: a half-bred Dingo reared in England[[42]] showed signs of wishing to burrow.