NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Fxtreine cunning Devastations in Languedoc. 



to retreat, soon return to the charge. Those that 

 have once tasted human flesh, ever after particu- 

 larly seek to attack mankind; and evidently pre- 

 fer the shepherd to the flock. 



Although the wolf is so extremely gluttonous 

 that he will sometimes fill his stomach with mud, 

 and devour even his own species when pressed 

 hy hunger yet his rapacity does not exceed his 

 cunning. Ever suspicious and mistrustful, he 

 imagines every thing he sees is a snare laid to 

 betray him. If he find a rein-deer tied to a post, 

 to he milked, he dares not approach, lest the ani- 

 mal should he placed there only to entrap him ; 

 but no sooner is the deer set at liberty, than he 

 pursues and devours it. 



In the year 1764, an animal of this species 

 committed the most terrible devastations in some 

 particular districts of Languedoc, and soon be- 

 came the terror of the whole country. Accord- 

 ing to the accounts given in the Paris gazette, he 

 was known to have killed twenty persons, chiefly 

 women and children; and public prayers are said 

 to have been offered up for his destruction. 



The following singular adventure of General 

 Putnam, with one of these ferocious animals in 

 North America, may not be unacceptable to the 

 reader. 



Some time after Mr. Putnam had removed to 

 Connecticut, the wolves, which were then very 

 numerous, broke into his sheep-fold, and killed 

 seventy fine sheep and goats, besides worrying 



