140 THE WOLVES. 



blished; he resumed his good condition of body 

 and brilliant coat ; his keepers could again approach 

 him ; but he would not endure the caresses of any- 

 other person, and he answered strangers by nothing 

 but menaces.* 



In this account, taken from the pen of a dis- 

 tinguished naturalist, there is, we may fully believe, 

 not the slightest exaggeration of the facts ; but the 

 inferences to be drawn require, nevertheless, consi- 

 derable caution. The wolf was attached, but his 

 attachment remained exclusive, and (for in this 

 instance it appears that the animal was a male), 

 if he had been allowed to go at large and follow 

 his master like a dog, it still remains a question 

 whether, upon the excitement of instinctive appe- 

 tites, he would not have returned to the woods ; 

 whether, if his master being accompanied by him, 

 had been attacked by other wolves, he would have 

 fought in his defence ; or for pure love, as Buffon 

 relates of a hybrid she-wolf, he would not have 

 joined in eating his protector. 



Wolves do not acquire their full growth till 

 after the end of the second year. Their season of 

 heat, in Europe and North America, is late in 

 autumn, and the female produces from three to 

 seven whelps at a litter. They are brought forth in 



* Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, by Griffith, vol. ii. p. 342. — 

 We have witnessed the most obstreperous fits of joy in a she- 

 wolf at the visits of a young lady, who had never taken other 

 interest in the animal than patting her on the head and speak- 

 ing to her. This was also at the Jardin du Roi, at Paris. 



