Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
The hound, if transported into Spain and Barbary, where all animals
have the hair fine, long, and thick, would become the spaniel and
water-dog. The great and small spaniel, which differ only in size, when
brought into England change their colour from white to black, and, by
the influence of the climate, have become the large and small King
Charles's dog, and the beagle, which is, in fact, the same as the
others, but with liver-coloured marks on the fore feet, over the eyes,
and on the nose.
The mastiff, transported to the north, is become the large Dane, and to
the south changes into a common greyhound. The large greyhounds come
from the Levant, those of a middling size from Italy, and the latter
being taken into England have become still smaller. The large Dane,
transported into Ireland, the Ukraine, Tartary, Epirus, and Albania,
have become the large Irish dogs, which in size surpass all the rest
of the species. The bull-dog, transported from England into Denmark,
is become the small Dane, and this small Dane taken into warm climates
changed into the Turkish dog. All these races, with their varieties,
have been produced solely by the influence of climate, joined to the
effects of food and education; the other dogs are not pure races, but
proceed from a mixture of those above.
The greyhound and mastiff have produced the mongrel greyhound, which
is called the _greyhound with wolf's hair_. The nose of this mongrel
is not so thin as that of the Turkish greyhound, which is very rare in
France. The large Dane and the large spaniel have produced the dog of
Calabria, which is a handsome dog, with long thick hair, and higher
in stature than the largest mastiff. The spaniel and terrier produce
what is called the Burgundy spaniel; and from the spaniel and small
Dane has come the lion-dog, which is now very scarce. The dogs with
long fine curled hair, which are called the Bouffe dogs, and which are
bigger than the water dogs, come from the water dog and large spaniel.
The little water dog comes from the small spaniel and the water dog.
The bull-dog and the mastiff produce a mongrel, which is larger than
the bull-dog, yet approaches him more than the other; and the pug comes
from the bull-dog and the small Dane.
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