Timber Wolf 87 



regarded by Dr. Elliot, in the work already cited, as inseparable from the 

 present form. 



In size the western wolf appears inseparable from the Old World 

 animal. In colour, according to Dr. Elliot, it varies from uniform white 

 through various shades of grey to black; the great majority of individuals 

 being grey and white more or less tinged with brown. 



The distributional area of this wolf includes Western North America 

 as far as Idaho and Nebraska, extending southwards to Mexico and north- 

 wards to Greenland. In the United States this animal is rarely met with 

 to the eastward of the Mississippi valley. As the habits of the American 

 wolf appear to be essentially the same as those of its Old World represent- 

 ative, nothing need be said with regard to these on the present occasion. 



THE TIMBER WOLF 



[Canis lupus nubilus) 



The " timber-wolf," as this race is commonly called in America, was 

 described as long ago as 1823 by Say, in Long's Kxpedition to the Rocky 

 Mouiitams, so that its title antedates that of the preceding form. The type 

 specimen was killed on the prairie near Council Bluffs, Iowa ; and the 

 distributional area ot the race includes that portion of North America 

 situated westward of the longitude of Idaho, from the Great Slave Lake in 

 the north probably as far south as California. 



The distinctive feature of the animal appears to be its sooty or leaden- 

 brown colour ; Say's description of the type specimen being as follows : — 



" Dusky colour, the hair cinereous at the base, then brownish black, 

 then grey, then black ; the grey of the hairs combining with the black tip 

 to produce a mottled appearance ; the grey predominating on the sides. 



