Why, it is the very perfection of a name, and exactly expresses the character of the animal to which they apply it--that character, which coming under their everyday observation, suggested the name.
It is quite a libel to call this beautiful creature a hyena.

He has neither the ugly form, the harsh pelage, the dull colour, nor the filthy habits of one.

Call him a "wolf," or "wild dog," if you please, but he is at the same time the handsomest wolf or wild dog in creation.

But we shall name him, as the boors have done, a "wild hound." That is his true title, let naturalists class him as they may.
His size, shape, his smooth clean coat, as well as his colour, approximate him more to the hound than to any other animal.

In the last--which is a ground of "tan" blotched and mottled with large spots of black and grey--he bears a striking resemblance to the common hound; and the superior size of his ears would seem to assimilate him still more to this animal.