764 Life-liistorics of Northern Animals 



destroys the mother, ami (hf^s out the pujjs, if he can locate the 

 den; parasites, insects, and (Hsease also are to be dreaded. 



llearne makes some remarks which show the Northern 

 Indians and the Wolves on a very friendly footing. 



The Wolves, he says,"* "always burrow underground to 

 bring forth their young; and though it is natural to suppose 

 them very fierce at those times, yet I have frequently seen the 

 Indians go to their dens and take out the young ones and play 

 with them, i never knew a Northern Indian hurt one of 

 them; on the contrary, they always put them carefully into 

 the den again; and I have sometimes seen them paint the faces 

 of the young Wolves with vermilion or red ochre." 



In August the young arc so far grown that they begin to fol- 

 low the mother about in her hunting expeditions, and the den is 

 abandoned, liy this time the doorway is littered with the bones, 

 fur, and feathers of the game brought home by the |)arents. 



liiJucA- The education of the cubs now begins in earnest. The 



chief means is example. Whether consciously or not, on the 

 part of the teacher or of the class, there can be no doubt that 

 it is by seeing the mother do, or not do, that the little ones learn 

 much that is neces.sary to their success in life. Thus she 

 inspires them with terror of a trap, by showing her own terror 

 of it; no matter whether conscious or unconscious, this is 

 teaching. The same is true, I suppose, of all the ideas that 

 modern Wolves have; ili;it is, the ideas so recent that they have 

 not yet had time to become ingrained as instinct. 



"They are still pu|)py-like at one year, and hardly fidl 

 grown until eighteen months old; even then they did not have 

 the fully adult look. The females in the Philadelphia Zoo did 

 not come in heat till they were two years old." {Carson.) 



I'his agrees with observations made on the Wolves in the 

 London Zoo. It is likely, therefore, that the Gray-wolf is not 

 mature until its third year, thenceforth the female breeds once 

 each year while in vigour; that is, probably, till her ninth or 

 tenth year. 



'"Jouriuy, lyvs, pp. 362-j. 



TION 



