THE ANTARCTIC WOLF 79 



uary, 1765, to take possession in the name of 

 George III., and brought home a wolf which was 

 described by Pennant. An amusing instance of 

 the fearless curiosity of these beasts occurred 

 when Byron's party attempted to land, for four 

 of the animals ran belly deep into the sea to 

 stare at the sailors, who took their tameness for 

 ferocity and, being unarmed, pulled back to the ship! 

 On a later occasion, Byron's men having fired the 

 grass, great numbers of wolves were seen running 

 away from the flames. These beasts, unmolested by 

 man, existed in great numbers, preying on the 

 rookeries of penguin and on the geese which fre- 

 quented the kelp-strewn shore; some observers have 

 also found seals mangled by them. 



The Antarctic wolf was generally silent, though 

 occasionally uttering a feeble yapping bark ; went 

 single rather than in packs ; lived in burrows in the 

 sandhills ; and was altogether a strange anomaly — 

 being a wolf which adopted the habits of a fox. 

 Not only was this animal itself aberrant, but it 

 caused other species to become so; the upland 

 geese for instance which inhabited the islands took 

 to nesting on isolated rocks for safety, just as the 

 Samoan didunculus pigeon has taken to trees to 

 avoid the imported cats. Tame enough in the day- 

 time, like many island forms, at dusk the geese 

 became very wild and shy : Captain Fitzroy was 

 doubtless right in attributing this altered behaviour 



