32i 



CANIS LUPUS GRISEO-ALBUS, (Linn6) (Sabine). 



THE WOLF. 



Specific Character.— The three first teeth in the upper jaw and the four in 

 the lower jaw, are trenchant but small, and are called false molars. The great car- 

 nivorous tooth is bicuspid with a smaller tubercle on the inner side ; that below 

 has the posterior lobe altogether tubercular. There are two tuberculous teeth 

 behind each of the great carnivorous teeth. The muzzle is elongate, tongue soft, 

 ears erect, but in the domestic varieties sometimes feridulous. The forefeet are 

 pentadactylous or five-toed, the hind feet are tetradactylous or four-toed. The 

 teats are both inguinal and ventral. 



Habitat. — North America, common in Northern Ont irio. 



Average Size. — Equal to a large setter dog. 



Average Weight. — 50 to 75 pounds. 



Average Height. — At shoulder, 26 inches. 



Average Lerigth. — From tip of nose to point of tail, 5 feet ; nose to tail, 48 

 inches ; tail, 12 inches. 



Value of Fur. — Per skin, aveiage, 50c, to S2. 



The wolf is well known in Ontario, especially in its northern portions, and is 

 cordially detested wherever found. 



He is a noxious animal, the type of all detestable qualities, and courage is 

 absolutely foreign to his nature. Unless accompanied by a pack of his cowardly 

 fellows, the wolf will never attack an animal larger than himself, and he will flee 

 like the wind before any cur that will take the trouble to chase him. 



The gray wolf of Canada is about five feet six inches long from point of nose 

 to tip of tail, and attains an average height of twenty-six inches at the shoulder. 



In good condition he weighs about 100 pounds. 



The eye of the wolf is of a greenish colour, which adds to his sinister and cun- 

 ning appearance. His tail is well haired and bushy, but not so long as that of the 

 fox. 



The wolf subsists on any refuse he can pick up, and is generally to be found 

 skirmishing on the outskirts of settlements or hunters' camps. 



The female whelps in May, when four to eight pups are produced at a birth. 



The wolf breeds freely with the dog, and in every Indian camp dogs are to be 

 seen so peculiarly wolfish in aspect and characteristics, as to render them indistin- 

 guishable from their wild cousins. 



The wolf is essentially the enemy of the deer, and the destruction wrought 

 by him is great and merciless. On the glare ice the deer has no chance of escape 

 from the pursuer, falling fiat at every step, and being easily overtaken by the band 

 of snapping cowards which pursue it. But the worst slaughter occurs when the 

 snow is deep and covered by crust strong enough to support the wolf, but through 

 which the deer falls step by step. Then it is that the deer yield up their lives in 

 hundreds, and it is little wonder that with the wolf on one hand and the human 

 assassin on the other, the noble species is disappearing fast. 



On account of his cowardice and cunning, the wolf is hunted with difficulty, 

 and only with poison can the wretch be efiectually reached. 



The work of the wolf hunter is arduous and dangerous, and, as at present, 

 but small inducement is held out to him, comparatively few wolves are killed. 



