The Dingo “approaches in appearance to the largest kind of Shepherd’s Dog ([see figure on page 147]). The head is elongated, the forehead flat, and the ears short and erect, or with a slight direction forwards. The body is thickly covered with hair of two kinds—the one woolly and grey, the other silky and of a deep yellow or fawn colour. The limbs are muscular, and, were it not for the suspicious yet ferocious glare of the eye, he might pass for a handsome Dog. When he is running, the head is lifted more than usual in Dogs, and the tail is carried horizontally. He seldom barks.”[120]

There are some Dingoes in the Zoological Gardens, and one would never guess their savageness of disposition from their innocent faces. They are decidedly good-looking Dogs in appearance, but as regards temper they are anything but pleasant animals, although quite tamable if taken young: they are, indeed, often domesticated by the natives, but are never known to attain to those higher qualities which make the thoroughly civilised Dog so valuable.

“When Van Diemen’s Land began to be colonised by Europeans, the losses sustained by the settlers by the ravages of the Wild Dogs were almost incredible. The districts infested by these animals were principally those appropriated to Sheep, and there was scarcely a flock that did not suffer. It was in vain to double the number of shepherds, to watch by night and day, or to have fires at every quarter of the field; for these animals would accomplish their object by stratagem or force. One colony lost no fewer than 1,200 Sheep and Lambs in three months; another colony lost 700.

“The ravagers were either the native Wild Dogs of the island or those that had escaped from their owners. They seemed to have apportioned the country into different districts, each troop having its allotted range. At length the evil became so great, that a general meeting of the colonists was convened. The concluding sentences of the speech of Lieutenant Hill forcibly express the extent of the evil:—‘The country is free from bushrangers: we are no longer surrounded and threatened by the natives. We have only one enemy left in the field; but that enemy strikes at the root of our welfare, and through him the stream of our prosperity is tainted at its very source.’ The colonists were then few, but they cordially united in the endeavour to extirpate this formidable enemy; and, although the Wild Dog is still found in the interior of the island, he is comparatively seldom seen, and his ravages have nearly ceased.”[121]

CHAPTER IX.
THE DOG FAMILY.—WOLVES—JACKALS—FOXES, ETC.

[THE WOLF]—Historical Account—Geographical Distribution—Characteristics—Habits—Destructiveness—Tame Wolves—Varieties of the Wolf—[THE PRAIRIE WOLF]—[THE RED WOLF]—[THE JACKAL]—Its Character—Habits—“Jackal’s Horn”—Occurrence—[THE BLACK-BACKED JACKAL]—[THE SENEGAL JACKAL]—[THE AGUARA]—[THE COMMON FOX]—Characters distinguishing it from the true Dogs—Its Habits—Cunning—Occurrence—[THE ARCTIC FOX]—Its supposed Change of Colour according to Season—Its Habits—The Value of its Skin—[THE FENNEC]—[THE LONG-EARED FOX]—Why made a Distinct Genus—[THE RACOON DOG]—[THE HYÆNA DOG]—Its Character and Habits.

THE WOLF.[122]

WE have considered all the most important “beasts of prey,” with two exceptions, under the Cat family, to which they belong. Two important ravagers still remain—the Bear, of which we shall speak by-and-bye, and the Wolf, whose turn has now come. Of the great Cats, much good is often spoken. Notwithstanding their cruelty and bloodthirstiness, they are handsome, strong, and usually courageous: each one hunts his prey for himself, and when he has satisfied his appetite, leaves the remainder to inferior beasts, disdaining, unless when reduced by starvation, to touch any but fresh meat. The Bear, too, often has a word said for him: his curious, half-good-natured look, his semi-human waddle, the tricks he is capable of learning, all combine to make him seem not so very objectionable a beast after all. But who ever heard any good said of a Wolf? There have, indeed, been a few instances of Wolves in captivity who have shown much affection and fidelity to their masters; but, under ordinary circumstances, cruel, cowardly, dastardly, greedy, pitiless, are the adjectives applied to him.

The Wolf has a place in history as venerable as that of the Lion, and he was the dread of the shepherd four thousand years ago. A very old Sheep-master, addressing his sons on his death-bed—these sons being, eleven out of twelve of them, shepherds—said of the youngest:—“Benjamin shall ravin as a Wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”

Homer also, in his immortal “Iliad,” frequently brings in the Wolf, giving with a few master-touches a vivid picture of the hated brute’s habits:—