rUAIUlE WOLF. 



ciirious instance of this strange timidity in so fierce an animal, and of which he 

 was an eye-witness. 



A farmer had suffered greatly from the Wolves, and had determined to take 

 his revenge by means of pitfalls, of which he had dug several within easy reach 

 of his residence. They were eight feet in depth, and wider at the bottom than 

 at the top. Into one of these traps three fine Wolves had fallen, two of them 

 being black, and the other a biindled animal. To the very great astonishment 

 of Mr. Audubon, the farmer got into the pit, pulled out "the hind-legs of the 

 Wolves, as they lay trembling at the bottom, and with his knife severed the 

 chief tendon of the hind-limbs, so as to prevent their escape. The farmer was 

 thus repaying himself for the damage which he had suft'ered, for the skins of 

 the captured Wolves were sufficiently valuable to reimburse him for his labour 

 and previous losses. 



Among the Esquimaux the Wolves are caught in traps made of large blocks 

 of ice, and constructed in precisely the same manner as an ordinary mousetrap 

 wath a drop-door. The trap is maile so narrow that the Wolf cannot turn 

 himself, and when he is fairly inclosed by the treacherous door, he is put to 

 death by spears, which are thrust through interstices left for that purpose. 



Bold as is the AVolf in ordinary circumstances, it is one of the most suspicious 

 animals in existence, and is affected with the most abject terror at the sight of 

 any object to whicli ils eyes, nose, or ears are unaccustomed. 



To this peculiarity have been owing, not only the preservation of game, but 

 the lives of defenceless travellers. It has several times happened that a band 

 of Wolves have been ])ressing closely upon the footsteps of their human quarry, 

 and have been checked in their onward course by the judicious exhibition of 

 certain articles of which the Wolves were suspicious, and from which they kept 

 aloof until they had satisfied themselves of their harmlessness. As one m-ticlc 

 began to lose its efiicacy, another was cxhil)ited, so that the persecuted travellers 

 were enabled to gain the refuge of some friendly village, and to baffle the furious 

 animals by means which in themselves were utterly inadccpiate to their effects. 

 A piece of rope, trailed from a horse or carriage, is alwavs an object of much 

 fear to the Wolves. 



PRAIRIH: \YOLY.—Crnii.s latrans. 



There is a rather smaller species of Wolf, which is found in great numbers 

 upon the American prairies, and named for that reason the Prairie AVolf. 

 These animals are always found hanging on the outskirts of the numerous 



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