DOG KIND. 37 



them stronger food, hares, partridges, and birds 

 yet alive. The young wolves begin by playing 

 with them, and end by killing them. The dam 

 then strips them of their feathers, tears them in 

 pieces, and gives to each of them a share. They 

 do not leave the den where they have been lit- 

 tered till they are six weeks or two months old. 

 They then follow the old one, who leads them to 

 drink to the trunk of some old tree where the 

 water has settled, or at some pool in the neigh- 

 bourhood. If she apprehends any danger, she 

 instantly conceals them in the first convenient 

 place, or brings them back to their former re- 

 treat. In this manner they follow her for some 

 months : when they are attacked, she defends 

 them with all her strength, and more than usual 

 ferocity. Although, at other times, more timor- 

 ous than the male, at that season she becomes 

 bold and fearless ; willing perhaps to teach the 

 young ones future courage by her own example. 

 It is not till they are about ten or twelve months 

 old, and until they have shed their first teeth, 

 and completed the new, that she thinks them in a 

 capacity to shift for themselves. Then, when 

 they have acquired arms from nature, and have 

 learned industry and courage from her example, 

 she declines all future care of them, being again 

 engaged in bringing up a new progeny. 



The males and females are in a capacity to en- 

 gender when two years old. It is probable that 

 the females of this species, as well as of most 

 others, are sooner completed than the males ; but 

 this is certain, that they never desire to copulate 



... 



