TIJK WOLF. 



making one or two small leaps upon those members before he ventures to 

 place his fore-feet on the ground. AMien he is accompanying his master in 

 the fields, and comes to a gate or a gap in the wall, he dares not leap through 

 the aperture, as most Dogs would do, but hops up, and then do\^Ti agrdn, 

 upon his hind-feet alone. 



Iew animals have earned so widely popular, or so little enviable, a fame as 

 the Wolves. Whether in the annals of history, in liction, in poetry, or even in 

 the less honoured, but hardly less important, literature of nursery fables, the 

 Wolf holds a prominent position among animals. 



There arc several species of AVolf found in the ditierent parts of the world, 

 and each species is liable to considerable varieties of size and colour. The 

 common Wolf of Europe is generally grey, mingled with fiiwn, and the fur is 

 sprinkled with scattered black hairs. The under purts of the animal are 

 nearly white, changing to grey on the inside of the legs. These voracious and 

 dangerous animals are found in almost every quarter of the globe ; whether 

 the coiuitry which they infest is heated by the i)eanis of the tropical sun or 

 frozen by the lengthened Avinter of the northern regions. Mountain and plain, 

 forest and field, jungle and prairie, arc equally infested with Wolves, which 

 possess the power of finding nourishment for their united bands in localities 

 where even a single predaceous animal may be perplexed to gain a livelihood. 



When hungry — and the AVolf is almost always hungry — it is a bold and 

 dangerous animal, daring almost all things to reach its prey, and venturing to 

 attack large and powerful animals, — such as the buffalo, the elk, or the wild horse. 

 Sometimes it has been known to oppose itself to other carnivora, and to attack 

 so mipromising a foe as the bear. ]\[r. Lloyd records an instance of this 

 presumption on the part of the AVolves. 



During a bear-hunt, when the hunting party was led by a dog that was fol- 

 lowing the footsteps of a l)car, a small herd of Wolves, few in number, suddenly 

 made their appearance, pounced on the dog, and devoured it. They then took 

 up the trail, and when they came up with the bear entered into battle with him. 

 The fight terminated in favour of the bear ; but not without much exertion and 

 great danger to both parties, as was proved by the quantity of bear and AVolf 

 fur that lay scattered about the scene of combat. So severely had the bear been 

 treated, that his fur Avas found to be quite useless when he was killed bv th«f 

 hunters a few days after the conflict. 



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