86 Bird-Nesting 



we could get on our feet. We ran after the dogs down the 

 gorge and on reaching the open prairie we could hear a tre- 

 mendous howling and barking, and there a short distance away 

 was the wolf at bay surrounded by the dogs. On arriving at 

 the scene we found both the wolf and the dogs bleeding. The 

 manager encouraged the dogs, and they then made a savage 

 attack on the wolf. One seized him by the hind leg and one 

 of the largest hounds had hold of his throat ; the poor brute 

 was outnumbered, as there were five to one : they soon pulled 

 him down and his piteous howls began to get fainter. The 

 manager tried to call the dogs off, but the} 7 were too eager in 

 the fight, but as the wolf had ceased to howl we beat the dogs 

 off and found the wolf almost dead, and one of the cowboys 

 shot him through the head to put him out of his misery. His 

 skin was too badly torn to make a specimen of it, so we left 

 him for the turkey vultures. We found the dogs bleeding from 

 several wounds, so we took them to a stream and the manager 

 bathed their wounds and tied pieces of his handkerchief round 

 the leg of one of the hounds which the wolf had badly bitten. 

 The prairie wolf is about the size of a sheep dog, and the 

 fur is ashy grey, and the tail is bushy. They are very plenti- 

 ful in this district, and burrow like foxes. They are exceed- 

 ingly swift of foot. They never attack man, even when a 

 number of them are together. They live on birds and small 

 animals, and sometimes attack lambs and young sheep. There 

 is another species of wolf found in this district, and it is 

 especially numerous in the wooded Red Deer River region. 

 This is the large grey wolf. It is also found around Lake 

 Winnipeg, in fact it frequents all the timber lands stretching 

 between Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains. This 

 species, like the wolves of Russia, has been known to attack 

 human beings when pressed by hunger. The grey wolf is as 

 large as a Newfoundland dog. One was killed by one of my 

 collectors, near Shoal Lake, Manitoba, in the following man- 

 ner : During the spring of this year he had lost several 

 lambs, by a wolf coming at night to his farm and taking them 

 away. At last this wolf got so bold as to visit the farm every 



