Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
WILD DOG.
These animals range from the plains of India and Burma to the Tibetan Plateau and Siberia. They hunt in small packs, usually by day, and are very destructive to game, but seldom attack domestic animals.
The Wild Dog of Africa, or Cape Hunting-dog.
This is a most interesting creature, differing from the true dogs in having only four toes on both fore and hind feet, and in being spotted like a hyæna. These dogs are the scourge of African game, hunting in packs. Long of limb and swift of foot, incessantly restless, with an overpowering desire to snap and bite from mere animal spirits, the Cape wild dog, even when in captivity and attached to its master, is an intractable beast. In its native state it kills the farmers' cattle and sheep and the largest antelopes. A pack has been seen to kill and devour to the last morsel a large buck in fifteen minutes. Drummond says: "It is a marvellous sight to see a pack of them hunting, drawing cover after cover, their sharp bell-like note ringing through the air, while a few of the fastest of their number take up their places along the expected line of the run, the wind, the nature of the ground, and the habits of the game being all taken into consideration with wonderful skill." The same writer says that he has seen them dash into a herd of cattle feeding not a hundred yards from the house, drive out a beast, disappear over a rising ground, kill it, and pick its bones before a horse could be saddled and ridden to the place.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green.
DINGO.
The wild dog of Australia. It was found there by the first discoverers, but was probably introduced from elsewhere.
