DANCE 



754 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



escaped with a steel trap and clog on its foot, at Isle a la 

 Crosse, one winter. A month afterwards it was killed near 

 Green Lake, 90 miles distant, still dragging the trap. This 

 is evidence of a very wide range. 



It is the opinion of all hunters that I have consulted 

 that the summer range of a Gray-wolf is less than 50 miles 

 across. In winter, however, it may be doubled by the scarcity 

 of food, but at all times there is a region that it recognizes as 

 home. 



Unlike the Deer, the Wolf, so far as known, does not have 

 two home-regions, one for summer and another, entirely dis- 

 tinct, to which it migrates for the winter; in other words, the 

 Gray-wolf is a wide ranger, but non-migratory. 



ABUN- In the early days when the Buffalo swarmed on the Red 



and Assiniboine Rivers, there were hundreds, possibly thou- 

 sands, of Gray-wolves in Manitoba. Henry writes,- October 

 4, 1799 [Junction of Park and Red Rivers], "Wolves are 

 very numerous. They go in large droves and keep up a terri- 

 ble howling day and night," and his fur reports of the region 

 give: 1 800- 1, 204 Wolf skins; the following years they num- 

 bered, 256, 801, 360, 690, 862, 420, and 68. These included 

 both Gray- and Prairie-wolves or Coyotes, probably equally 

 divided, and most were from Pembina Hills. But the Gray- 

 wolves disappeared with the Buffalo. In the late 70's and 

 early 8o's the species was almost unknown on our prairies, 

 and the few left were undoubtedly brought in through following 

 the cart trains with loads of meat from the Plains each year. 

 The introduction of cattle, however, has caused them to 

 increase again, and now a few are found in most parts of our 

 country. About a dozen were killed annually within our limits 

 during the late 8o's; since then the destruction has increased, 

 but so have the Wolves, and 1 think it probable that we have 

 from 50 to 100 pairs of Gray-wolves in Manitoba to-day. 

 Nevertheless, it is well to remember that ascertained figures 

 are usually far in excess of the estimates when it is the question 



' Journal, 1897, P- "2. 



