Gray-wolf 757 



monogamous race," he says, "will, in the long run, defeat a 

 polygamous," and then he claims that monogamy is the rule 

 in all the higher animals. Hearne says^ of the Wolves in the 

 Barren Grounds: "They couple in spring and generally keep 

 in pairs all summer." 



Miles Spencer, an observant fur-trader, at Fort George, 

 Hudson Bay, is thoroughly conversant with the Wolves of 

 that region and maintains that the male assists the female in 

 caring for the young." The Wolf hunters in New Mexico tell 

 me that when they find a Wolf's den, two old ones are sure to be 

 hovering about, and in January I saw there at least one case 

 of a male being deeply devoted to a certain female. A good 

 father is a good husband among animals. Bailey says:' 

 "Men who have made a business of hunting Wolves for the 

 bounty assert that they are usually able to shoot one or both 

 of the old Wolves at the den by watching the trails, or hiding 

 near the den early in the morning before the Wolves return from 

 the night's round. These statements are fully corroborated 

 by my own experience. While watching dens in Wyoming I 

 could easily have shot the male who was doing sentinel duty; 

 for although he watched from a high point, from which he 

 could see a man long before being himself seen, still in his 

 anxiety to decoy me away he often came within rifle range. 



" It is now positively known that Wolves always pair, at 

 least for the breeding season." 



How long does this ideal condition last ? For that season life- 



r ,-r 5 LONG 



or tor lite : union 



Probably for life. I have several times seen a male and 

 female Wolf together at a time when the sexual passion was 

 dormant; and yet the male showed the female more attention 

 than he would have done had she been simply a smaller male. 

 This points to permanent partnership. 



' Journey, 1795, p. 362. 



"A. P. Low, Expl. James Bay, Can. Geol. Surv., 1888, App. Ill, p. 76 J. 



' Op. cit., Note 3, pp. 22-3. 



