THE WOLF.] 



THE DOG, AjS"D its VARIETIES; 



[the wolf. 



which either do not intermix with other spe- 

 cies, or which produce, with others, an unpro- 

 lific progeny, are very little changed, however 

 long and completely they may have been under 

 the dominion of man. When, indeed, we look 

 at the great differences in instincts, form, and 

 size which the domestic dog exhibits, we find 

 it difficult to believe, however they may inter- 

 breed, that they are all the lineal descendants 

 of one common origin. Tet this opinion is the 

 most generally entertained. Mr. Bell even 

 goes a step farther, and refers the domestic 

 dog to the wolf as its primeval parent ; whilst 

 others have referred it to the jackal 



Let us, however, examine what are the pre- 

 vaihng characteristics of these animals, and see 

 how far resemblances exist between them and 

 the dog. 



The wolf has a robust but gaunt frame, a 

 skulking or irresolute gait, ferocity mingled 

 with cunning and cowardice, and a wild yet 

 sinister expression of the physiognomy. Spread 

 throughout Europe and various parts of Asia, 

 it is more particularly in mountain and forest 

 districts that he prevails, where the population 

 is scanty, and collected into small towns or 

 villages, with a wide country around, destitute 

 of human dwellings. In the Pyrenees, the 

 Carpathian mountains, in Poland, Hungary, 

 some parts of Austria, Prance, Italy, and Spain; 

 in Xorway, Sweden, and Russia, the wolf is still 

 common ; as well as in western Asia, and the 

 border territories included in Europe. Por- 

 merly this animal was abundant in the British 

 Islands, and the plague and terror of their in- 

 habitants. Verstegan, in his Mestitution of 

 Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities, concerning 

 tlie Most Nolle and Renotvned English JS'ation, 

 1G05, observes that January was called Wolf- 

 monat by the Anglo-Saxons, " because people 

 were wont, in that month, to be more in danger 

 to be devoured of wolves than any season els 

 of the yeare ; for that through the extremity of 

 cold and snow, those ravenous creatures could 

 not find other beasts sufficient to feed upon." 

 The universal fear which the wolf, where nume- 

 rous, naturally inspired, was formerly height- 

 ened by superstition; and fiends or malio-- 

 nant spirits were imagined to have power to 

 assume the form and character of this dreaded 

 animal. Every child of five years old knows 

 the nursery story of Little Bed Riding Hood, 

 366 



who was deceived by the ferocious wolf. Ly- 

 canthropos of the Greeks, the "Were-wolf of the 

 Anglo-Saxons, and the Loup-garou of the 

 Prench, had reference to some such preter- 

 natural monster, whose name was associate! 

 with all that is horrible and mysterious. Con- 

 spicuous then, and dreaded for its power and 

 rapacity, it can scarcely be wondered that tha 

 wolf should have had its name assumed, or 

 given to men of distinction, by our barbarous 

 but warlike forefathers, among whom such ap- 

 pellations as Ethelwolf, Eadwolf, Berthwolf, 

 and many more, were common. 



Our Saxon ancestors, however, did not suffer 

 the wolf to ravage the country unmolested. 

 In the tenth century, under the reign of 

 Edgar, the work of exterminating this animal 

 began, and appears to have been carried on 

 with success down to the thirteenth century ; 

 when, during the reign of Edward I., all histo- 

 rical record, by way of royal edict, ceases in refer- 

 ence to continuing the work of w^olfiue extirpa- 

 tion. The last record of their existence in any 

 formidable numbers was in 1281. It is said 

 by Mr. Topham, in his notes to Somerville'a 

 Chase, that it was in the wolds of Yorkshire 

 where a price was last set upon a wolf's head. 

 In Scothand and Ireland the wolf remained for 

 a considerable period longer. In 1577, accord- 

 ing to Hollinshed, wolves were destructive to 

 the flocks in Scotland ; and in Ireland they were 

 exterminated only at the beginning of the last 

 century. 



Prom the numerous allusions to the wolf in 

 the Scriptures, it is evident that it must have 

 been well-known formerly in Syria — and in- 

 deed also in Egypt, for we find it figured on 

 ancient sculptures, together with the hysena 

 and greyhound. At present, however, this 

 animal is seldom met with in Syria, although 

 it still exists in that region, but keeps itself 

 concealed. 



So habitually cautious and suspicious is the 

 wolf, that it is difficult to take it in traps ; and 

 for the same reason, anything like the appear- 

 ance of artifice, deters it from an attack. It 

 has been supposed that it never carries its 

 tail raised. This, however, is not altogether 

 correct. A visit to the Zoological Gardens, 

 in the Regent's Park, London, will enable the 

 curious upon this point to satisfy themselves 

 that wolves do elevate their tails whilst gallop- 



