ANIMAL NOTABLES 179 



THE WOLF'S PRIVY PAW 



In the Spectator of August 29 the author of " Milton 

 and Brute Creation " remarks : " The hungry sheep of 

 ' Lycidas ' are of course not sheep at all, any more than 

 is the ' grim wolf with privy paw ' a wolf." I venture to 

 take exception to this remark so far as the wolf is concerned. 

 I met my first wolf while on the march from Mandla through 

 the prairies of Dindori towards the sources of Nerbudda and 

 the shrine of Amarkantah, " the navel of India." He was 

 turning over clods in a field, and looked as big as a calf. At 

 first sight I had no notion what the animal was, but as I rode 

 by within a few yards he swung his heavy head to look at 

 me , and ' ' burningly it came on me all at once ' ' that this 

 was Milton's " grim wolf with privy paw." He used his 

 paw with a leisure, precision, and delicacy that were most 

 striking. Probably, if the truth must be told, he was 

 hunting for field mice. Since then I have kept not a few 

 wolf-cubs. Restless and inquisitive, they seem to regard 

 the world as a mystery to be solved by incessant, tenta- 

 tive scraping with their absurdly large forepaws. I should 

 say that Milton in one line has presented a perfect picture 

 of the wolf with almost photographic accuracy. This 

 may have been a pure accident. I quote from memory, 

 but I think Miss Lawless in her " Lament of the Forest 

 of Ulster," concludes the poem with the lines : 



" The grey wolf with scraping claw, 

 The great grey wolf, with scraping claw, lest he 

 Lay bare my dead, for gloating foes to see, 

 Lay bare my dead who died, who died for me." 



If I were asked what the most characteristic action of 

 the wolf was, I should certainly say it was the stealthy, 

 prying use of the powerful forepaw. Jackals and hyenas 

 have the same characteristic in less conspicuous degree. 



