176 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 
eastern coast of Sutherlandshire, says Scrope, was 
attended with remarkable circumstances. 
“A man named Polson, of Wester Helmsdale, 
accompanied by two lads, one of them his son and 
the other an active herdboy, tracked a Wolf to a 
rocky mountain gully which forms the channel of the 
Burn of Sledale in Glen Loth. Here he discovered a 
narrow fissure in the midst of large fragments of rock, 
which led apparently to a larger opening or cavern 
below, which the Wolf might use as his den. The 
two lads contrived to squeeze themselves through 
the fissure to examine the interior, whilst Polson 
kept guard on the outside. 
“ The boys descended through the narrow passage 
into a small cavern, which was evidently a Wolf's den, 
for the ground was covered with bones and horns of 
animals, feathers, and eggshells, and the dark space 
was somewhat enlivened by five or six active Wolf 
cubs. Polson desired them to destroy these; and soon 
after he heard their feeble howling. Almost at the 
same time, to his great horror, he saw approaching 
him a full-grown Wolf, evidently the dam, raging 
furiously at the cries of her young. As she attempted 
to leap down, at one bound Polson instinctively threw 
himself forward and succeeded in catching a firm hold 
of the animal’s long and bushy tail, just as the fore- 
part of her body was within the narrow entrance of 
the cavern. He had unluckily placed his gun against 
a rock when aiding the boys in their descent, and 
could not now reach it. Without apprising the lads 
below of their imminent peril, the stout hunter kept 
