MAMMALS. 



t;s:; 



when they of that familie have cast lots who it shall be, they use to accom- 

 panie the partie upon whom the lot is falne, to a certaine meere or poole 

 in that countrey : when he is thither come, they teene him naked out of 

 all his clothes, which they hang upon an oke thereby: then he swimmeth 

 over the said lake to the other-side, and being entered into the wilder- 

 nesse, is presently transfigured and turned into a wolfe." Here he dwells, 

 keeping company with the other wolves for nine years, after which, if he 

 have totally abstained from human flesh, he may swim back across the 

 lake, and resume his former shape and condition, save that he is nine 

 years older. 



^^^^ ^! 



ft- 





Fig. 525. — Coyote, or prairie-wolf (Cctnis latrana). 



The wolves themselves were also regarded with equal dread ; they 

 were endowed with supernatural powers, and "it is commonly thought 

 likewise in Italie, that the eyesight of wolves is hurtfull, in so much as if 

 they see a man before he espie him, they cause him to lose his voice for 

 the time." 



The coyote, or prairie-wolf, is a smaller and more timid animal than 

 the true wolf, but it has the same habit of hunting in packs. Night is 

 the tinie for its greatest activity, and then the chorus of howls and barks 



