Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire exhibited a jackal which barked with the same tone
as any common dog. (1/33. Quatrefages 'Soc. d'Acclimat.' May 11, 1863 page
7.) An interesting account has been given by Mr. G. Clarke (1/34. 'Annals
and Mag of Nat. Hist.' volume 15 1845 page 140.) 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 singly or in packs, and burrow holes for
their young. (1/35. Azara 'Voyages dans l'Amer. Merid.' tome 1 page 381;
his account is fully confirmed by Rengger. Quatrefages gives an account of
a bitch brought from Jerusalem to France which burrowed a hole and littered
in it. See 'Discours, Exposition des Races Canines' 1865 page 3.) 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. (1/36. With respect
to wolves burrowing holes see Richardson 'Fauna Boreali-Americana' page 64;
and Bechstein 'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands' b. 1 s. 617.) These feral dogs
have not become uniform in colour on Juan Fernandez, Juan de Nova, or La
Plata. (1/37. See Poeppig 'Reise in Chile' b. 1 s. 290; Mr. G. Clarke, as
above; and Rengger, s. 155.) 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 (1/38. Dogs, 'Nat. Library' volume 10
page 121; an endemic South American dog seems also to have become feral in
this island. See Gosse 'Jamaica' page 340.) 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 (1/39. Low
'Domesticated Animals' page 650.) showed signs of wishing to burrow.