ß2 A. L. V. Manniche. 



As a proof of the keen smelling sense of the arctic wolf, the 

 following trail may be mentioned. 



On the above named catching place used in January and the 

 beginning of February, a dog's body employed as a bait was still 

 lying on the 24^'^ of March, near the wolf traps. Besides being as 

 hard as a stone, the body was covered with a crusty layer of snow 

 1^/2 meter thick, and consequently I did not imagine that any beast 

 of prey would be able to find it under the circumstances. 



When in the forenoon I walked across to the place, in order to 

 dig the dog's carcass out by means of ice-axe and spade and put 

 the traps right, I found, however, that the snow had been scraped 

 away by the wolf and about half of the dog's meat devoured. 



Following the foot-prints I soon caught sight of the wolf which 

 had lain down to rest on a snow-drift, on the other side of a rather 

 small freshwater lake. From an ambush I was able to study the 

 doings of the animal unseen for some time. Now the wolf was 

 lying down on one side with all four limbs outstretched, now it 

 would rise, rubbing itself with one of the hind paws, only to lie 

 down again comfortably on the snow. After having performed its 

 necessities with crooked back exactly like a dog, the animal gave 

 some involontary kicks in the snow with the hind legs, as if trying 

 to hide the excrements, but without succeeding in the least. At last 

 it trudged away slowly along the shore of the lake, climbing on to 

 a low rock, behind which it made itself invisible. The dung of the 

 animal which I examined later on, was black, almost tarred, and 

 mostly consisted of the "pemmican" used as dog's food on the ship^ 

 and of tallow (used for the same purpose). Besides I found in the 

 dung some hairs of dogs. (Evidently the last meal on the dug-up 

 dog's carcass had just been eaten and thus not yet digested.) 



On March 27th I caught the wolf in a trap. It was a very large, 

 old female of the same colour as the previously killed animals, yet 

 perhaps with a smaller number of dark hairs on back and tail. 

 Even this wolf was extremely emaciated and weighed only 22 kilo- 

 grammes. 



Length from muzzle to root of tail . . 117 cm. 



Total length of the tail 425 - 



Height from the sole of the foot to the 



upper edge of the shoulder 85 



Circumference (behind the fore limbs) 71 



On April 4'h C. Poulsen returned trom a four weeks' stay at 

 the station at Pustervig. He states to have seen on March 14**^ per- 

 fectly fresh traces of a running wolf (in the valley about 8 kilometer 



