CHARLES WATER TON" AS A NATURALIST. 



45 



retail the hearsay collected on 

 the spot " (p. 134). He trusted to 

 his " intuitive perceptions," and 

 maintained that wolves hunt singly, 

 for the reason that if they did it in 

 packs they would quarrel over the 

 spoil, and, like the cats of Kilkenny, 

 destroy each other ! Again, he 

 says : " Were wild dogs to hunt in 

 packs, the daily supply of food 

 would not be sufficient to satisfy the 

 cravings of every individual " (p. 

 203). Now, it holds to reason that 

 if ravenous animals live on flocks in 

 a state of nature, they will follow 

 these flocks, so that they can never 

 lack food as long as the flocks exist ; 

 nor do wild flocks, as a general thing, 

 appear to leave their favourite feed- 

 ing grounds on account of being 

 disturbed or preyed upon by others 

 of the brute creation; and if they 

 did, their enemies would follow 

 them, as in the case of the buffalo 

 and other American animals. The 

 main reason for wolves and such 

 animals hunting in packs, is ap- 

 parently to combine their strength 

 against such quarry as would take 

 perhaps half a dozen wolves to 

 master, or give them courage or 

 confidence, or when their prey went 

 in flocks for protection. It is un- 

 necessary for me to illustrate at 

 length what I have said, by quoting 

 the evidence of trustworthy travel- 

 lers, as to certain animals following 

 and killing their prey in packs ; and 

 that more than one wild animal can 

 and do eat off the same carcass at 

 the same time; which would be a 

 great saving in the economy of na- 

 ture, for that particular species, 

 rather than each animal killing its 

 prey and leaving much, if not most, 

 of it to be consumed by others, 

 which would never have it in their 

 power to partake of such fare, if 

 they had to acquire it themselves. 

 In Lewis and Clarke's Expedition 

 across the Rocky Mountains, we have 

 many allusions to wolves constantly 

 attending on the herds of buffalo, 

 elk, deer, and antelopes ; and the 



following passage from Hunter 

 illustrates at a glance the re- 

 lation between buffaloes and 

 wolves ; " The cows bring forth 

 in March or April. They are 

 proverbially attached to their 

 young, and form at night a circular 

 phalanx round them, with their 

 horns outward, to protect them 

 against the attacks of the wolves " 

 (p. 173). But this "founder of a 

 school " for naturalists, in his cru- 

 sade against " closet naturalists," 

 has the following whimsical objec- 

 tion to animals hunting in packs : 

 " When at a great distance from 

 their supposed retreat, what master- 

 dog will take upon himself to 

 organize the pack ? and when the 

 hard day's hunting is over how will 

 he dispose of his confederates ? 

 Are the females, which remained 

 behind on the hunting morning, in 

 order to take care of their newly- 

 whelped pups, supposed to wait in 

 anxious expectation that some gen- 

 erous hound will return with a neck 

 of goat in his mouth for their sup- 

 port?" (p. 203.) 



As an instance of his " phil- 

 osophy," I may give what he says 

 about the apes on the Rock of Gib- 

 raltar. Ordinary people would 

 conclude that these were the de- 

 scendants of others that had escaped 

 from confinement ; but he scouts 

 the idea. " I believe there is noth- 

 ing on record to show that this 

 establishment of an apish colony 

 had ever taken place " (p. 144) ; as 

 if that were likely to have been 

 "put on record," when the escape 

 of two apes, " unbeknown" to any 

 one, could have done all the mis- 

 chief ! He has recourse to the "por- 

 tentous circumstance " of Europe 1 

 and Africa being separated by a 

 " tremendous convulsion of na- 

 ture," which cut off the apes' retreat 

 towards the South, and left a few of 

 them high and dry on the top of 

 Gibraltar ; the only place in Europe 

 where they are found, and where 

 they maintain themselves under the 



