HYENA. 61 



whether by force or stratagem ; and indeed both are prac- 

 tised to effect the purpose in this case. It is sometimes 

 caught in traps, trepanned by poisoned meat, or lured 

 into pitfalls. Gesner mentions a friar, a woman, and a 

 wolf, being caught in one of these last on the same night; 

 when the event was, that the woman lost her senses by 

 the fright, the monk his reputation, and the wolf his life. 

 All these disasters, however, and all the arts of annoy- 

 ance practised by men, do not prevent the wolf from 

 multiplying. The female goes about fourteen or fifteen 

 weeks with young, and produces from five to seven or 

 eight cubs at a litter. France, Spain, and Italy, are much 

 infested by these animals, which indeed are diffused over 

 many parts of the world ; but Great Britain and Ireland 

 are happily delivered from their presence. 



The Anglo-Saxon king Edgar was the first who endea- 

 voured, with effect, to extirpate these animals. He com- 

 muted the punishment of certain crimes for the payment 

 of a specified number of wolves' tongues ; and converted 

 the customary tax of the Welsh into an annual tribute of 

 three hundred wolves' heads. Edward the First took 

 particular pains to accomplish their destruction in the 

 counties adjoining to Wales, and in his reign they gradu- 

 ally began to disappear in England. The last wolf was 

 killed in Scotland in 1680, by Sir Evan Cameron; and in 

 Ireland one is mentioned to have been destroyed so lately 

 as 1710. 



The wolf breathes a most fetid vapour from his jaws, 

 and is in every respect offensive and disgusting : a savage 

 aspect, a frightful howl, an insupportable odour, fierce 

 habits, and a malignant disposition, are the leading quali- 

 ties in its nature ; which render it dangerous and detested 

 while living, and useless when dead. 



THE HYENA. 



" The keen hyena, fellest of the fell," as it is charac- 

 terized by the author of the Seasons, is about the size of 

 the wolf, and bears a general resemblance to the con- 



