CANJS. 139 



The great aversion to killing a wolf that exists in many parts of 

 India is due, I am told by Mr. Theobald, to a widely spread belief 

 that the blood of a wolf, if shed upon the lands of a village, renders 

 them unfruitful. 



The Indian wolf has both speed and endurance, and has very 

 rarely, if ever, been run down and speared from horseback, though 

 the feat has often been attempted. McMaster, after briefly 

 describing an unsuccessful attempt, very appropriately quotes 

 Byron's lines in ' Mazeppa ' about wolves : 



" With their long gallop, which can tire 

 The hound's deep hate and hunter's tire." 



If hunted with greyhounds a wolf generally, after going for some 

 distance, turns upon the dogs and chases them back to the hunts- 

 man. Instances of this are given by both Jerdon and Forsyth ; 

 but the latter relates how in one case a wolf that had chased back 

 two greyhounds met his match in a bull mastiff. Jerdon states 

 that a wolf once joined his greyhounds in hunting a fox. 



In the Indian desert between Eiijputana and Sind wolves are 

 said by Sir B. Frere (Journ. E. Geogr. Soc. 1870, p. 204) to be 

 dug or smoked out of their dens amongst the sand-hills. This is 

 generally done about midday in the hottest part of the hot season ; 

 the men engaged protect their feet with folds of raw hide, and if 

 the wolves are not clubbed or speared at once they are easily run 

 down, as the hot sand blisters their feet and disables them. 



I was told by Mr. Le Mesurier, formerly chief engineer of the 

 Great Indian Peninsular Eailway, that he succeeded in capturing 

 many wolves in a pitfall consisting of a circular trench with per- 

 pendicular sides, and too deep for the animal to jump out of. On 

 the ground left at the original level in the middle of the circular 

 trench, a goat was tethered, and the trench was thinly covered 

 with sticks and straw, that gave under the wolf's weight. 



Indian wolves breed in holes or in caves among rocks. Dr. 

 Bonavia, in a letter published in ' Nature ' for 1875 (vol. xii, p. 67), 

 states that the young vary in number from three to eight, and are 

 born from October to December, chiefly in the latter month. He 

 adds that they are born blind and with drooping ears. The young 

 are easily tamed, and they have all the habits of dogs * ; indeed, 

 the common Indian dogs may be in part descended from wolves, 

 although they are probably chiefly derived from jackals. There is 

 some evidence to show that the Indian wolf occasionally breeds 

 with the village dogs; whilst Sir B. Frere (Journ. E. Geogr. Soc. 

 1870, p. 205) mentions that in the Indian desert a pariah bitoh 

 was known to associate with a pack of wolves. 



Stories about wolf-reared children are common in Northern 

 India, especially in Oudh. Particulars of several supposed cases 



* A curious instance may be mentioned. Dr. J. Anderson gave two young 

 tame wolves a teal that was rather high. They would not eat it, but rolled over 

 on it exactly as many dogs would do. 



