THE WOLF. 241 



And the creatures are conscious of their own powers ; 

 and, though they will often tacitly own man's supremacy 

 by declining a contest with him, yet there are circum- 

 stances ever and anon occurring, — hunger sometimes, some- 

 times rage, or the desperation induced by escape being 

 cut off, or the o-ropyrj which makes the helpless bold, — in 

 which they are willing to try " the wager of battle " with 

 their lieoe. 



The stern conflict fbr life, when man stands face to 

 face with his bestial foes, has given many a romantic page 

 to the annals of natural history ; and too many such 

 pages are stained with the harrowing record of their 

 grim victory, and his bloody death. We cannot therefore 

 ignore them in the aspect of natural science which we 

 are considering ; but we may content ourselves with a few 

 examples of the terrible : the difficulty lies in the selec- 

 tion from the profusion of materiel. 



Throughout the north temperate zone the w^olf is a 

 cruel and bloodthirsty foe of man, making up by a scent 

 like that of the hound, a patient perseverance, and a 

 habit of combining in numbers in common pursuit, what 

 it lacks in individual power. Yet, individually, a wolf is 

 able to pull down an unarmed man, and, when pressed 

 with famine in severe winters, it becomes very daring. 

 In our own island its ravages have long ago induced its 

 extirpation ; but in a remote era houses were erected at 

 certain intervals by the road-sides, to serve as places of 

 refuge against the assaults of the wolves ; and January 

 was by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors called, " Wolf-monat," 



Q 



