32 ANIMALS OF THE 



pearance. The feature which principally distin- 

 guishes the visage of the wolf from that of the 

 dog, is the eye, which opens slantingly upwards, 

 in the same direction with the nose ; whereas, 

 in the dog, it opens more at right angles with the 

 nose, as in man. The tail also, in this animal, is 

 long and bushy ; and he carries it rather more 

 between his hind-legs than the dog is seen to do. 

 The colour of the eye-balls in the wolf is of a 

 fiery green : this gives his visage a fierce and for- 

 midable air, which his natural disposition does 

 by no means contradict.* 



The wolf is one of those animals whose appe- 

 tite for animal food is the most vehement, and 

 whose means of satisfying this appetite are the 

 most various. Nature has furnished him with 

 strength, cunning, agility, and all those requisites 

 which fit an animal for pursuing, overtaking, and 

 conquering its prey j and yet, with all these, the 

 wolf most frequently dies of hunger, for he is the 

 declared enemy of man. Being long proscribed, 

 and a reward offered for his head, he is obliged 

 to fly from human habitations, and to live in the 

 forest, where the few wild animals to be found 

 there escape him either by their swiftness or their 

 art ; or are supplied in too small a proportion to 

 satisfy his rapacity. He is naturally dull and 

 cowardly; but frequently disappointed, and as 

 often reduced to the verge of famine, he becomes 

 ingenious from want, and courageous from neces- 



* The rest of this history of the wolf is taken from M. Buff'on ; and I 

 look upon it as a complete model for natural history. If I add or differ, 

 I mark it as usual. 



