general Zoological changes. 123 



to engage his attention still farther, in considering, in a more 

 detailed manner, how man has acted upon particular species, 

 and what will or ought to be their ultimate condition. I shall 

 only single out a few, as deserving particular attention, or 

 upon which I think I have been able to collect information 

 sufficiently interesting for publication. I shall begin with 

 The Common Wolf. 



Like ill weeds, this rapacious animal thrives in almost eve- 

 ry climate ; destroying every other creature it can master, and 

 consuming during the year, on a moderate calculation, about 

 thirty times its own weight of more or less valuable animal 

 substances : though in cultivated countries the damage it does 

 to the live stock makes its injurious character appear propor- 

 tionately far greater ; not to mention the dangers to which 

 even man is exposed, from its ferocious nature. 



Where the wolf is the undisturbed tenant of the wilder- 

 ness, as we still find it to be in the most secluded parts of the 

 high latitudes of North America, it hunts in packs, and, by 

 beating up the woods, contrives to destroy great numbers of 

 red or other deer, by driving them over precipices. Within 

 its own societies, this animal carries the principle of gross 

 selfishness, and the jus fortioris, perhaps to a greater excess 

 than any other creature ; as the aged and young individuals 

 are invariably found lean, whilst the middle aged and strong 

 ones are well fed. But we are here more nearly interested in 

 its habits, when it is either acted upon by man, or acts upon 

 him. Even in very thinly peopled countries, this animal e- 

 vinces a great disposition to damage man in a direct manner. 

 Packs of twelve or more are generally to be found at no great 

 distance from the huts of the Esquimaux, lying in wait for 

 the domestic dog, which they succeed in killing, if it wander 

 so far as to be out of reach of assistance from its owners. — 

 In one instance, in the arctic regions, two of them rushed up- 

 on a fine Newfoundland dog, belonging to Captain Lyon, in 

 the day-time, and would have killed it, but for the timely in- 

 terference of its master. 



As the countries inhabited by the wolf become peopled 

 with settlers and tame animals, and less stocked with game, 

 the audacity with which he attacks the tame species, notwith- 

 standing the more extensive persecution to which the animal 

 itself is subjected, increases even more than appears in pro- 

 portion to the necessity for drawing more and more upon them 

 for subsistence ; until, at last, man himself becomes the prey 

 of the wolf. We shall see below, to what an awful extent 

 human lives and property are, in civilized countries, exposed 

 to the encroachments of this audacious robber, if energetic 



