SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 633 



dog when he has by any chance acquired the habit of run- 

 ning down sheep. When the wolf enters a sheep-fold, which 

 he does by leaping over the walls, or digging underneath 

 ^thern, the havoc he commits is excessive. If time be allowed 

 before the alarm is given, he frequently does not depart while 

 a single animal is alive, but flies from one to another, as if 

 his appetite for slaughter increased with the means of grati- 

 fying it. Sometimes, indeed, in mountainous countries, the 

 rams, placing the females in the rear, present a front to the 

 wolf, and endeavour to rush upon him with their powerful 

 foreheads, and stun him by the shock. But the hazard is, that 

 the marshalled ranks will be thrown into instant confusion, 

 when nothing but the appearance of the shepherd with fire- 

 arms, or his faithful but terrified dogs, can save the remnant 

 of the flock. When a wolf advances to a herd of oxen, they 

 assemble in a mass, and endeavour to trample him with their 

 feet, an instinct which even the helpless oxen of our fields 

 retain, as we may see when a strange dog intrudes into their 

 pasture grounds. But the Wolf never assails a whole herd 

 of these animals. He seeks to surprise the scattered mem- 

 bers, and then he runs at them from behind, and hamstrings 

 them by his powerful bite ; and it is curious that the larger 

 drover's dogs in this country imitate, without inflicting 

 wounds, the same mode of attack. When the Wolf assails a 

 horse, he adopts a different practice : he avoids both the pos- 

 terior limbs and fore-feet of the animal, and endeavours to 

 spring upon his back, or seize him high up by the buttocks. 



The Wolf, wary by nature, has all his habits of caution 

 increased when brought into contact with man. When he 

 sets forth from his covert, when the shades of evening have 

 fallen, he snuffs the gale to windward, that he may know 

 whether an enemy is in the distance. When he steals into the 

 neighbouring country in search of food, he sometimes effaces 

 the marks of his footsteps by his bushy tail, that the retreat 

 from which he has issued may not be discovered ; and when 

 several wolves go forth in company, they frequently follow 



