THE WOLVES. 141 



holes, or under the most sheltered and impenetrable 

 covers, where a bed of moss is gathered by the 

 mother for their comfort and necessary warmth. 

 The male wolves are accused of a desire to devour 

 the whelps as long as they are blind ; and the fact 

 is well known that the females practise this unna- 

 tural brutality if the young have been handled, or 

 her attention or suspicion be raised by some cause 

 which, it seems, excites in her an idea of apprehen- 

 sion for their safety, and is manifested by so singular 

 a mode of expression. After the eyes are open, the 

 male wolf is no longer an object of maternal fears ; 

 he then joins in the care of rearing the young, and 

 in bringing partridges, moorfowl, rats, and moles to 

 the lair; and both stages of the whelp's existence 

 indicate the further operation of secondary causes 

 all in unison with those already noticed. With 

 the growth of her progeny, the she-wolf increases 

 in vigilance and in daring. By degrees they are 

 led by her to drink, two or three times a day, to 

 the nearest sequestered water. As they increase 

 in stature, both the parents take them out to 

 hunt. 



It is at this time that families of wolves are often 

 seen in company skirting the vicinity of habitations. 

 By degrees, however, the young acquire strength ; 

 and ere the autumn ends, the male has forsaken the 

 troop and taken to his solitary habits ; the mother 

 remaining with her litter, and often keeping together 

 through the next winter and spring season ; it ap- 



