ve 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. {28} 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.

From the several foregoing facts we see that reversion in the feral
state gives no indication of the colour or size of the aboriginal
parent-species. One fact, however, with respect to the colouring of
domestic dogs, I at one time hoped might have thrown some light on
their origin; and it is worth giving, as showing how colouring follows
laws, even in so anciently and thoroughly domesticated an animal as the
dog. Black dogs with tan-coloured feet, whatever breed they may belong
to, almost invariably have a tan-coloured spot on the upper and inner
corners of each eye, and their lips are generally thus coloured. I have
seen only two exceptions to this rule, namely, in a spaniel and
terrier. Dogs of a light-brown colour often have a lighter,
yellowish-brown spot over the eyes; sometimes the spot is white, and in
a mongrel terrier the spot was black. Mr. Waring kindly examined for me
a stud of fifteen greyhounds in Suffolk: eleven of them were black, or
black and white, or brindled, and these had no eye-spots; but three
were red and one slaty-blue, and these four had dark-coloured spots
over their eyes. Although the spots thus sometimes differ in colour,
they strongly tend to be tan-coloured; this is proved by my having seen
four spaniels, a setter, two Yorkshire shepherd dogs, a large mongrel,
and some fox-hounds, coloured black and white, with not a trace of
tan-colour, excepting the spots over the eyes, and sometimes a little
on the feet. These latter cases, and many others, show plainly that the
colo