Natural History of the Wolf. 215 



European dogs are mixed and become prolific. It is remarkable that the 

 European dogs that have no mixture of wolfish blood have an antipathy to 

 those that have, and worry them whenever they meet. The wolf-breed act 

 only defensively, and, with his tail between his legs, endeavours to evade the 

 other's fury. The wolves in Carolina are very numerous, and more destruc- 

 tive than any other animal. They go in droves by night, and hunt deer like 

 hounds, with dismal yelling cries." 



" Sir John Kichardson gives a minute description of the Canis Lupus 

 occidentalism American Wolf, the Missouri Wolf of Lewis and Clark, and 

 states that he does not mean to assert that the differences existing between 

 it and its European congener are sufficiently permanent to constitute them, 

 in the eye of the naturalist, distinct species. The same kind of ditferencet » 

 he observes may be traced between the foxes and native races of the domestic 

 dog of the New World and those of the Old ; the former possessing finer, 

 denser, and longer fur, and broader feet, well calculated for running on the 

 snow. These remarks were elicited by a comparison of living specimens of 

 American and Pyreneau wolves ; but he had not an opportunity of ascertain- 

 ing whether the Lapland and Siberian wolves, inhabiting a similar climate 

 with those of America, had similar peculiarities of form, or whether they 

 differed in physiognomy from the w^olf of the south of Europe. He therefore 

 considered it uuadvisable to designate the northern wolf of America by a 

 distinct specific appellation, lest ho should unnecessarily add to the list of 

 synonyms. The word occidental is, which is affixed to the Linnaean name of 

 Canis Lupus, is, he tells us, to be considered as merely marking the geogra- 

 phical position of that peculiar race of Wolf. 



" This animal is very common throughout the northern regions of 

 America, but more or less abundant in different districts. ^' Their foot- 

 marks," says Eichardson, " may be seen by the side of every stream, and a, 

 traveller can rarely pass a night in these wilds without hearing them howling 

 around him. They are very numerous on the sandy plains which, lying to 

 the eastward of the Eocky Mountains, extend from the sources of the Peace 

 and Saskatchewan rivers towards the Missouri. There bands of them hang 

 on the skirts of the buffalo (bison) herds, and prey upon the sick and strag- 

 gling calves. They do not, under ordinary circumstances, venture to attack 

 the full-grown animal ; for the hunters informed me that they often see wolves 

 walking through a herd of bulls without exciting the least alarm ; and the 

 marksmen, when they crawl towards a buffalo for the purpose of shooting it, 

 occasionally wear a cap with two ears, in imitation of the head of a w^olf, 

 knowing from experience that they will be suffered to approach nearer in that 

 guise. On the Barren-Grounds through which the Coppermine Eiver flows 

 1 had more than once an opportunity of seeing a single w^olf in close pursuit 

 of a reindeer ; and I witnessed a chase on Point Lake when covered witli 

 ice, which terminated in a fine buck reindeer being overtaken by a large 

 white wolf, and disabled by a bite in the flank. An Indian, who waa 

 concealed on the borders of the lake, ran in and cut the deer's throat with 

 his knife, the wolf at once relinquished his prey and sneaked off. In the 



