312 Wild Beasts 



its means, also, men were provided with fire. There was 

 nothing Prometheus-like in his conduct on this occasion ; 

 not a trace of the spirit which prompted the Titan. Far 

 from it ; he stole a brand the celestial squirrel dropped, 

 and set fire to the world. 



Like other wild beasts, the wolf has suffered at the 

 hands of those who have described him. Men who, accord- 

 ing to their own showing, had the most limited oppor- 

 tunities for learning anything about them have so often 

 pronounced authoritatively upon the character of this 

 race, and have so constantly confounded observation with 

 inference, that closet zoologists are now provided with a 

 body of extemporaneous natural history in which the real 

 animal has become as purely conventional as an Assyrian 

 carving. 



Perhaps the only accusation which has not been made 

 against this much abused creatur* is that of stupidity. 

 Nobody ever suspected a wolf of want of sense ; although 

 Buffon (" Histoire Naturelle ") says, " il devient ing^tiieux 

 par besoin," as if he knew of other and more gifted ani- 

 mals who exerted their minds without any need for 

 doing so. 



The common representation which people make to them- 

 selves of wolves, and which they are most apt to see in 

 pictures, is that of a pack. There is little doubt, however, 

 that packs are accidental and temporary aggregates. They 

 are not composed of family groups. Their members merely 

 unite for an especial purpose, and disperse when this is at 

 an end. Moreover, it is exceptional to find large numbers 

 together in America under any circumstances. Wolves 



