186 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 
animals probably perished in this way in their 
attempts to escape from packs of pursuing Wolves. 
Giraldus Cambrensis, who lived in the reigns of 
Henry II., Richard I., and John, and who visited 
Treland in 1183 and again in 1185--6, when he 
accompanied Prince John there, has left a curious 
account of the wild animals then existing in Ireland, 
amongst which is included the Wolf. He adds, “the 
Wolves often have whelps in the month of December, 
either in consequence of the great mildness of the 
climate, or rather in token of the evils of treason 
and rapine, which are rife here before their proper 
season.’’* 
In the “Polychronicon” of Ranulphus Higden, the 
monk of Chester, who died about 1360, we have a 
later account of the Irish fauna. and in this also the 
Wolf figures. Thus he says :—“ Zerra hee magis 
vaccis quam bobus, pascuis quam frugibus, gramine 
quam grano fecunda. Abundat tamen salmonibus, 
murenis, anguillis, et ceteris marinis piscibus; aquilis 
quoque, gruibus, pavonibus, coturnicibus, niso, falcone 
et acciptre generoso. Lupos quoque habet, mures 
nocentissimos ; sed et araneas, sanguisugas, et lacertas 
habet imnocuas. Mustelas quoque parvi corporis sed 
valde animosas possidet.+ This passage is thus 
rendered by his translator, John Trevisa (A.D. 1357- 
1387), and adopted by Caxton in his “ Cronycles of 
* “Topographia Hibernie,” lib. ii. cap. xxvi. p. 726, ed. Dimock, 
vol. v. p. 112. And not only Wolves, but crows and owls are said to 
have had young at Christmas. Op. cit., p. 112, 
+ “Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis,’’ ed. 
Babington (Master of the Rolls Series), vol. i. pp. 334, 335+ 
