86 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photo by L. MeMand, F.Z.S.] 



WHITE WOLF. 



[JXorth Finchley. 



White wolves are quite common in North America. Recently two 

 white wolves were brought to the Zoological Gardens from Ilussia. 



was the case even near St. Petersburg at the 

 same period. A traveller in 1840 was chased 

 by a pack of wolves so closely that when the 

 sledge-horses reached the pos<>house and rushed 

 into the stable, the doors of which were open, 

 seven of the wolves rushed in after them. 

 The driver and traveller leaped from the sledge 

 just as it reached the building, and horses and 

 wolves rushed past them into it. The men 

 then ran up and closed the doors. Having 

 obtained guns, they opened the roof, expecting 

 to see that the horses had been killed. Instead 

 all seven wolves were slinking about beside 

 the terrified horses. All were killed without 

 resistance. 



In Siberia and Russia the wolves in winter 

 are literally starving. Gathering in packs, they haunt the roads, and chase the sledges with 

 their unfaltering gallop. Seldom in these days does a human life fall victim ; but in very 

 hard winters sledge-horses are often killed, and now and then a peasant. Rabies is very 

 common among wolves. They then enter the villages, biting and snapping at every one. 

 Numbers of patients are sent yearly from Russia and Hungary to the Pasteur Institutes, after 

 being bitten by rabid wolves. In Livonia, in 1823, it was stated that the following animals 

 had been killed by wolves : 15,182 sheep, 1,807 oxen, 1,841 horses, 3,270 goats, 4,190 pigs, 

 703 dogs, and numbers of geese and fowls. They followed the Grand Army from Russia to 

 Germany in 1812, and restocked the forests of Europe with particularly savage wolves. It is 

 said that in the retreat freni Moscow twenty-four French soldiers, with their arms in their 

 hands, were attacked, killed, and eaten by a pack of wolves. 



From very early times special breeds of dogs have been trained to guard sheep against 

 the attacks of wolves. Some of these were intended to defend the flock on the spot, others 

 to run down the wolves in the open. The former are naturally bred to be very large and 

 heavy ; the latter, though they must be strong, are light and speedy. Of the dogs which 

 guard the flocks several races still survive. Among the most celebrated are those of Albania 

 and the mountainous parts of Turkey, and the wolf-dogs of Tibet, generally called Tibetan Blood- 

 hounds. The Tartar shepherds on the steppes near the Caucasus also keep a very large and 

 ferocious breed of dog. All these are of the mastiff type, but have long, thick hair. When 

 the shepherds of Albania or Mount Rhodope are driving their flocks along the mountains to 

 the summer pastures, they sometimes travel a distance of 200 miles. During this march the 



dogs act as flankers and scouts by day and 

 night, and do battle with the wolves, which 

 know quite well the routes along which the 

 sheep usually pass, and are on the look-out to 

 pick up stragglers or raid the flock. The 

 Spanish shepherds employ a large white 

 shaggy breed of dog as guards against wolves. 

 These dogs both lead the sheep and bring up 

 the rear in the annual migration of the flocks 

 to and from the summer pastures. In the west 

 of America, now that sheep-ranching on a large 

 scale has been introduced, wolf-dogs are bred to 



Photo iy scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green. live entirely with the sheep. They are suckled 



PKAIRIE-WOLF, OR COYOTE. when puppies by the ewes instead of by their own 



This is the small, grey, thickly furred species found on the prairies. mothers, and become as it Were a part of the flock. 



