126 THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 



hover about the taboon, till some poor foal straggle a 

 few yards from the main body, when it is seized by 

 the enemy, while the mother, springing to its rescue, 

 is nearly certain to share the same fate. Then it is 

 that the battle begins in real earnest. The mares 

 form a circle, within which the foals take shelter. 

 We have seen pictures in which the horses are re- 

 presented in a circle, presenting their hind hoofs to the 

 wolves, who thus appear to have the free choice to 

 fight, or to let it alone. Such pictures are the mere 

 result of imagination, and bear very little resemblance 

 to the reality ; for the wolf has, in general, to pay 

 much more dearly for his partiality to horseflesh. 

 The horses, when they attack wolves, do not turn 

 their tails towards them, but charge upon them in a 

 solid phalanx, tearing them with their teeth, and 

 trampling on tnem with their feet. The stallions do 

 not fall into the phalanx, but gallop about with 

 streaming tails, and curled manes, and seem to act, at 

 once, as generals, trumpeters, and' standard bearers. 

 When they see a wolf, they rush upon him with 

 reckless fury, mouth to mouth, or if they use their feet 

 as weapons of defence, it is always with the front, and 

 not the hinder hoof, that the attack is made. With 

 one blow the stallion often kills his enemy, or stuns 

 him. If so, he snatches the body up with his teeth, 



