296 Modern Dogs. 



The moment the trap was pulled the wolf stood and 

 faced the spectators ; on the hounds being slipped 

 on him he attacked them; but they avoided his rush, 

 and pinned him so cleverly that the wolf was muzzled 

 and carried off without the least difficulty ; where- 

 upon an enormous price was paid for one of the 

 hounds. 



" The Russian style of hunting would not meet 

 all our English views of sport; but there is doubtless 

 a deal of excitement about it Mr. Kalmoutzky's 

 domain is entirely on a plain, with scarcely any 

 woodlands at all. It is all like a '' sea of grass," 

 the going being as good as on Newmarket Heath, 

 with here and there the land turned up in cultivation, 

 but looking much like patches in the vast expanse ; 

 so also did the reed beds of 300 or 400 acres each, 

 and these are the coverts for the wolves and foxes. 

 These reed beds are mostly eight or nine miles apart, 

 so English foxhunters could see what a gallop could 

 be had here ; better than Dartmoor or Exmoor, as 

 the turf is perfect, no rough ground, and the hills 

 little more than undulations. 



" Special hunts would have been arranged on my 

 behalf, but, alas ! like our own frozen-out sportsmen, 

 I had to be disappointed, as frost and snow inter- 

 fered. However, one morning I was given an insight 

 into wolf coursing, by one that had been previously 



