226 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



Authenticated tales of its ravages among the infant population 

 are only too common, an old bitch wolf with cubs laid up 

 near a village naturally finding Indian baby the most easily 

 procured and most succulent diet for her offspring. Wolves 

 have occasionally been ridden down and speared, but only 

 when found in the morning, and more or less gorged ; a wolf 

 in the evening, when empty, will lope along just ahead of good 

 greyhounds till the latter lie down exhausted. They can occa- 

 sionally be smoked out if their earths are found. Williamson 

 describes a big bag made in this way near Allahabad in 1780 ; 

 the earths were dug out, and at least ten pounds weight of 

 children's ornaments found in them. He also narrates a ghastly 

 story of the way wolves attacked the starving natives during 

 the famine of 1783 in broad daylight ; as a rule, however, they 

 seldom attack men. 



The next well-known varieties are the grey and black 

 Thibetan wolves (Cants laniger and Canis niger), generally 

 called ' Chanko.' These are very destructive to game as well 

 as to flocks and herds, as they hunt in small packs. Both grey 

 and black wolves are found together, and interbreed. The 

 black wolf is said to be rather the larger, but it is an open 

 question whether the varieties are distinct or not, in spite of 

 the fact of the black specimens Colonel Kinloch presented to 

 the Zoological Gardens only producing black cubs. 



A third variety of ' Chanko,' called the 'golden wolf,' has 

 been mentioned by sportsmen, but this may possibly be the 

 European wolf (Canis Lupus)> which extends to Turkestan. 



The chief points of distinction between the three varieties 

 of wolves, i.e. European, Thibetan, and Indian, are as follows : 

 in the European wolf the carnassial tooth is as long as the two 

 molars together, which is not the case with the others ; it has 

 also a dark stripe on the forelegs, which the others have not ; 

 and, lastly, the European and Indian wolves have black tips to 

 their tails, which the chanko has not. 



The remaining species of vermin is the Wild Uog (Cuon 

 rutilans), generally called ' Jungli-Kutta ' : in Cashmere ' Ram 



