70 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



There has been much diversity of opinion 

 among naturalists as to whether the Gray Wolf 

 of North America is specifically identical with 

 or distinct from the ordinary European Wolf. 

 Dr. Merriam. who was supported in his view by 

 the late St. George Mivart, holds that the two 

 animals are one and the same species, but of 

 recent years the opposite view has received an 

 increasing number of adherents. As regards the 

 American Gray Wolf, some naturalists consider 

 it to be identical with the Timber Wolf, while 

 others hold that the two represent different 

 species. 



Jones and a companion, in 1899, above the 

 Arctic Circle, " were so beset by packs of huge 

 and fierce White Wolves, seeking to devour their 

 five living musk-ox calves, that for over forty- 

 eight hours they fought them continuously at 

 short range, killing a Wolf at every shot." 



The Gray Wolf is abroad in the daytime as 

 well as at night, and hunts both solitary and 

 in pairs, and, especially in winter, in packs. The 

 early American farmer often awoke in the morn- 

 ing to find that Gray Wolves had during the 

 night killed " fifteen or sixteen sheep, simply 

 tearing open their throats without otherwise dam- 



Photugrul- 



TIMBER WOLVES 

 An unusual picture, taken in the open, showing two full-grown specimens at ease 



The fact is, that so many variations in respect 

 of shape, size and color exist among the Wolves 

 of America, that it is often difficult to assign a 

 particular Wolf to a certain species. 



The Gray Wolf formerly ranged over the 

 greater part of the North American continent, 

 but was most abundant in the great plains. 

 When the Bufifalo herds in countless thousands 

 were seeking new pastures, it was the Gray 

 Wolf from which the old bulls had time and 

 again to defend the newly born calves ; and 

 many a feeble, wounded, or aged Buffalo also 

 has fallen to the same beast of prey. Reindeer 

 and Moose likewise are among its victims. In 

 Alaska there is a large white variety, and C. J. 



aging the carcasses." And even today in the 

 western ranges Wolves still kill large numbers 

 of sheep, horses, and cattle. The Gray Wolf 

 has wonderful endurance, enabling it to run 

 down and kill even Foxes, whose swiftness is 

 proverbial. Deer and Antelope are favorite prey, 

 although sometimes a large buck has been known 

 to kill a Wolf with a blow of his sharp hoof. 



A typical Gray Wolf is about five feet in 

 length, has a height of twenty-seven inches at 

 the shoulders, and is about twenty-nine inches 

 in girth at the chest. Mr. Seton caught "a 

 good-sized male " in Colfax County, New Mex- 

 ico, in 1893, which measured sixty-two inches 

 from nose-tip to tail-bone tip, its tail being six- 



