154 FLESH-EATERS OF THE LAND 



The cunning of the Wolf sometimes degenerates into 

 cowardice. It is afraid of anything that looks like a trap, 

 and will never venture into a space which has been en- 

 closed by poles connected by a rope. In Norway the 

 electric telegraph proved quite an unexpected blessing. 

 The wolves mistook the wires for a new kind of trap and 

 never dared to pass beneath them. 



Notwithstanding all that has been said of the naturally 

 savage disposition of the Wolf, it has sometimes become 

 domesticated ; but, as in the cases of tame lions and tigers, 

 the result is more a proof of the triumph of the dominating 

 art of man, than evidence of a relenting nature in the 

 animal. In Munich was once to be seen a vehicle drawn 

 by two enormous Wolves, which a Russian merchant had 

 captured when very young and tamed to his service. 



The true Wolf, restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, is 

 found all over Europe, Northern, Central, and Western 

 Asia, Northern America and the North of Africa. Except 

 in a few regions the animal is the common species, whose 

 habits are more or less similar all the world over. In the 

 more northern regions of America and Asia, in winter it 

 may have a lighter coat ; but an albino Wolf is little more 

 than a freak (Plate XV. Fig. 2). The Indian Wolf 

 (Canis pallipes) is less gregarious than the common species, 

 and in some districts makes a speciality of preying upon 

 children. The superstitious natives believe that the little 

 victims are sometimes suckled by the she- Wolf, who thus 

 completely changes their nature. In early times European 

 nations held somewhat similar beliefs, e.g., the Anglo-Saxon 

 Were-Wolf was a mythical being, who could assume the 

 form and nature of a Wolf at pleasure, delighting in human 

 flesh and deeds of horrid cruelty. 



The Coyote, or Prairie Wolf (Canis latrans), Plate XIV. 

 Fig. i, of the United States and Southern Canada is smaller 

 and not nearly so ferocious as the common Wolf, although 

 it is the unrelenting foe of all young creatures. When 

 animal food fails, however, the Coyote readily makes up 

 for the deficiency with leaves and berries. Just as in the 

 old days packs of Coyotes followed the prairie caravans, so 

 now do the animals station themselves along the trans- 



