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PRAIRIE WOLE.—Canis lutrans. 
A farmer had suffered greatly ne the Wolves, and had determined to take his 
revenge by means of pitfal Is, of which he had dug several within easy reach of his 
residence, They were eight feet u 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 brindled animal. To the very great astonishment of M. 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 suffered, 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 mouse str’ ap with a drop- 
door. The trap is made 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. 
There is a rather smaller species of Wolf, which is found in ereat numbers upon the 
American prairies, and named for that reason the Prairie Wo.tr, These animals are 
always found hanging on the outskirts of the numerous herds of bisons that roam the 
prairies, and pick up a subsistence by assailing the weakly and wounded members of the 
herd. Small as is each individual Wolf, it becomes a terrible assailant when backed by 
numbers, and seldom fails to bring to the ground any animal which may be unfortunate 
enough to attract its attention. 
When they have once brought their prey to the ground, they make marvellously short 
work. There is a scuffle of some two minutes in length, during which the Wolves are so 
eagerly plying their feet and jaws that nothing is visible except a cloud of dust and hair, 
in the midst of which is a mass of whisking tails. The dusty cloud then subsides, and 
the Wolves are seen moving slowly away from the scene of their late repast. They also are 
in the habit of accompanying the hunters through their long peregrinations over the 
