FOOD OP THE WOLF IN NORWAY. 37 



distance from Bergen. About the year mentioned, a 

 few wolves, more venturesome than their fellows, ap- 

 peared in the Bergen Stift ; and at the end of the last 

 war between the Danes and Swedes, an army having 

 to cross the Fille Fjeld during the winter, was fol- 

 lowed by great numbers of wolves, attracted, no doubt, 

 by the provisions of the soldiers, or even by the dead 

 bodies of those who perished on the march through 

 that desolate region. The wolf is called in Norway 

 ulv and graa-been, or gray-leg. 



The Norwegian wolf breeds once a year, in the be- 

 ginning of May, and produces five or six young at a 

 birth. The cubs resemble young foxes, except that 

 the tip of the tail is never white. As they grow in 

 size they assume the gray colour. 



In winter the wolf feeds on almost anything he can 

 get. He destroys thirty or forty sheep at a time, eat- 

 ing only certain dainty parts of one or two of them. 

 He is an inveterate enemy of the elk and reindeer, and 

 is detested by the Lapps for his destructive forays 

 among their herds of tame reindeer. He pursues the 

 elk with extraordinary patience and perseverance, until 

 he comes within sight of his prey, when there ensues a 

 chase of some hours' duration ; but the quarry is sure, 

 sooner or later, to succumb to its relentless pursuer. 

 In the winter the wolf awaits the elk on the borders 

 of some frozen lake, and then contrives to drive its 

 victim on the ice. The unwieldy deer flounders along, 

 staggering at every step, until it falls with a crash on 

 the ice, when its enemy leaps at its throat, and sucks 

 its life-blood. 



It is said in Norway that when the wolf has fasted 

 for a long time, and has become almost mad with 



