THE WOLF. 197 
to compound for Wolf-heads; which was ordered 
accordingly. 
In 1662, as appears by the Journal of the House 
of Commons, Sir John Ponsonby reported from the 
Committee of Grievances that a Bill should be brought 
in “to encourage the killing of Wolves and foxes in 
Treland.” 
In the “ Travels of the Grand Duke Cosmo III. in 
England,” 1669 (p. 103), the author speaks of Wolves 
‘as common in Ireland, “for the hunting of which 
the dogs called ‘ mastiffs’ are in great request.” 
O'Flaherty, in his “West or Har Connaught” 
(1684), enumerates the wild animals which were to 
be found in that district im his day, and names 
“ Wolves, deere, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, hares, 
rabbets, squirrells, martens, weesles, and the amphi- 
bious otter, of which kind the white-faced otter is 
very rare.” Hardiman, in a note to his edition of 
this work (1846), says: ‘‘ When our author wrote 
(1684), and for some years afterwards, wolves were 
to be found in Jar Connaught, but not in such 
numbers as in the early part of that century. The 
last Wolf which I have been able to trace here was 
killed in the mountains of Joyce country, in the 
year 1700. After the wars of 1641 the ravages of 
the Wolves were so great throughout Ireland as to 
excite the attention of the State. ‘ Wolf-hunters’ 
were appointed in various districts, and amongst 
others in Jar Connaught, who helped to rid the 
country of these ferocious animals.”* 
* Hardiman, op. cit., p. 10, note. 
