632 THE L>OG. 



When wolves have by any means learned to feed on human 

 flesh, they ever afterwards make increased efforts to obtain 

 it. In India, where the heat of the climate causes the na- 

 tives to sleep much in the open air, they are often the vic- 

 tims of these midnight prowlers. But the animals rather 

 attack children than those who can offer resistance. They 

 have been known to spring upon women when suckling their 

 children, and carry away the babes, amid the cries, the mis- 

 siles, and unavailing pursuit of the throng ; and yet the 

 wolves of India are nothing like so powerful as those of the 

 higher latitudes, but being in a populous country, they have 

 learned to attack men, whom in other localities they would 

 not have dared to face. 



Wolves are less gregarious than many others of the canine 

 family. They rather assemble together than live in commu- 

 nities. They are enduring, and pertinacious in pursuit, fol- 

 lowing their game by the scent as well as by the eye. A 

 single wolf has been known to run down a stag or elk. They 

 are sometimes seen hunting in little packs, which, when the 

 quarry is in view, divide into sets, some following behind, and 

 others keeping in flank to intercept the bewildered victim, 

 as he vainly strives to save himself by turning to one or 

 other side. 



When the Wolf invades the cultivated country, he becomes 

 the scourge of the inhabitants. For the most part he easily 

 subdues the domesticated dogs, whom he maims by snapping 

 at their limbs, which he frequently breaks, so that few even 

 of the largest and fiercest dogs willingly encounter him. It 

 is said that he has the art of luring house-dogs from their 

 stations, in order that he may turn upon them. When he 

 attacks a sheep, he either devours it on the spot, or, throw- 

 ing it over his shoulder that he may the more easily support 

 its weight, drags it away. But, generally, he does not limit 

 himself to a single victim in the case of such animals as the 

 sheep, but endeavours to destroy as many as he can ; and it is 

 remarkable that this is the very practice of the domesticated 



