THE WARY WOLF 149 



tried to escape; but the horse landed a kick 

 on this fighter, crippled it, and finally killed 

 both. 



The new environment of wolf life that ac- 

 companied the approach of man demanded a 

 change of habit. Many things that wolves 

 had always done which had been good enough 

 for their ancestors must be done no more; 

 things that never had been done must be done 

 at once. It was the old, inexorable law 

 the survival of the fittest; the passing of those 

 which could not change and cope with newly 

 imposed conditions. 



Any one who has had experience with wolves 

 is pretty certain to conclude that they are in- 

 telligent that they reason. A trapper who 

 thinks that a wolf is guided by instinct, who 

 fails to realize lupine vigilance, and forgets that 

 wolves are always learning ever adapting them- 

 selves to changing environment will be laughed 

 at by a multiplying wolf population. 



With astounding quickness the new dangers 

 man introduced into the wolf world were com- 

 prehended and avoided. In the decade fol- 

 lowing 1885 wolves appear to have gained 

 knowledge of human ways more rapidly than 

 man developed in his knowledge of wolf ways. 

 This rapid mental development on their part 

 cannot be called instinct. Plainly it was a case 



