450 REMARKABLE LITTER. 



not more than from five to six cubs; but some few years 

 ago a lair was found near to Gellivaara in Lapland, con- 

 taining the extraordinary number of eleven cubs. The 

 Rev. Johan Bjorkman, the rector of the parish, , who 

 relates the circumstance, supposes, however, that two bitch 

 wolves had whelped in the same bed, and that the weaker 

 of the mothers had afterwards been expelled and driven 

 away by the stronger. 



Wolf cubs, when very young, are nearly black, and so closely 

 resemble those of the fox, that people are often deceived 

 in them. I myself was nearly so on one occasion. There 

 is this difference, however, that the wolf cub has not the 

 white tip to his tail that the fox cub has ; and when three 

 or four weeks old, the head and neck begin to be a little 

 greyish. The hair is very soft and fine, like the body hair 

 of old foxes. 



The wolf has proverbially a most ravenous appetite. 

 Pontoppidan in his quaint way tells us :* " He can suffer 

 hunger and hardships for a long time, which is common for 

 beasts of prey, according to the Creator's wise institution ; 

 for their provision is uncertain, and comes accidentally, and at 

 irregular intervals. When his hunger becomes too great, he'll 

 eat clay if it is to be had ; and this, as it is not to be digested, 

 remains in his belly till he gets flesh, and that works 

 it off violently ; and then he is heard to howl most dismally 

 for pain ; and if he is watched upon this, and his excrements 

 are found, they are mixed with a woolly matter, which many 

 have assured me. Near Vandelven, on Sundmcer, a farmer 



* The above and other quotations from Pontoppidan are not, it should be 

 remarked, from the original work, to which unfortunately the author has not 

 had access, but from a translation published in London in 1755. 



