ing which
are especially adapted to its pursuit. Thus, in the parts of North
America where the raccoon abounds, a variety of hunting-dog is in
process of development which has a singular assemblage of qualities
which fit it for this peculiar form of the chase. Although as yet
"coon-dogs" have not been cultivated for a sufficient time to acquire
distinct physical characteristics, their habits exhibit a larger range
of specialization than those of any other breed of sporting dogs.

In those parts of the Americas where peccaries are hunted, the dogs
used in their pursuit have learned to beware of assaulting the pack
which they have brought to bay, and instead of indulging in the
instinct which leads them into that way of danger and of certain
death, they circle round the assemblage, compelling them to show front
on every side and so to remain stationary until the hunters come up.
Perhaps a score of similar specializations in the modes of action of
our dogs which are employed in the chase could be recited; but as they
all lead us to one conclusion--which is to the effect that these
creatures are, as far as their mental powers are concerned, like clay
in the hands of the potter--we may pass them by for some
considerations which appear to have escaped the attention of writers
who have discussed the problems of canine intelligence.

The singular elasticity as regards both mental and physical qualities
which the dog exhibits, may well be compared with the other conditions
which we find in certain of our domesticated animals, as, for instance,
in the horse, where the mind shows but slight changes, and where the
body has proved far less plastic than among dogs. The readiness with
which the proportions of the dog may, by the breeder's art, be made to
vary, is probably due to the fact that the group to which this creature
belongs is one of relatively modern institution. It has the plasticity
which we note as a characteristic of many other newly-established forms.
The flexibility of mind is a concomitant of the carnivorous habit where
creatures obtain their prey by the chase. Such an occupation tends to
develop agile minds as well as bodies, and where exercised as it
doubtless was by the ancestry of the dog, in the manner of pack hunting,
where many individuals share in the chase, it is well calculated to
insure a certain free and outgoing quality of the mind.

[Illustration: Dutch Dogs used in Harness]

So long as our dogs were