86 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



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



WHITE WOLF 



[Ntrth Finchley 



White wolves are quite common In North America. Recently two 

 white -wolves were brought to the Zoological Gardens from Russia 



closely that when the sledge-horses reached the 

 post-house and rushed into the stable, the doors 

 of which were open, seven of the wolves rushed 

 in after them. The driver and traveler 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 be- 

 side 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 

 from 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 mountain- 

 ous parts of Turkey, and the wolf-dogs of Tibet, generally called Tibetan Bloodhounds. 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 

 lookout 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-ranch- 

 ing on a large scale has been introduced, wolf- 

 dogs are bred to live entirely with the sheep. 

 They are suckled when puppies by the ewes 

 instead of by their own mothers, and become, 

 as it were, a part of the flock. 



Photo by Scholastic Photo, Co.] \_Parson i Gritn 



PRAIRIE-WOLF, OR COYOTE 



This is the small, grey, thickly furred species found on the frairies 



