120 THE WOLF. 



plains, — where, indeed, they would find a lack of susten- 

 ance. Of the Felidse, or Cat family, the representatives 

 are neither numerous nor various. Except a species of 

 lynx, the Chiluson, or Chulon, which has been discovered 

 in the north of Tartary, and a few tigers which range as 

 far as Mongolia, the European and Asiatic steppes know 

 nothing of these formidable mammals. The most danger- 

 ous, we may even say the only dangerous, carnivore which 

 man and the herbivorous animals have cause to dread is the 

 grim, furtive, and ferocious Wolf. In Western Europe 

 the wolf is now very rare, having been ceaselessly and 

 pitilessly hunted down; but he is still found in great 

 numbers in the savage Lithuanian forests, in Russia, and 

 in Central Asia. 



Like the jackal, he is not without his use in the economy 

 of Nature, though his cruelty renders him an object of 

 hatred in every country which he inhabits. That he will 

 rifle the graves and profane the bones of the dead, is true ; 

 but he also clears away carrion and ofial. He follows up 

 the track of the wandering herds, and disposes of the weak, 

 the wounded, and the dying. He is the most useful (it has 

 been said), though the most disgusting, of camp-followers, 

 and is of essential service in regions where the half-civilized 

 tribes are almost constantly engaged in hostilities with one 

 another. 



I stood in a swampy field of battle, 



Witli bones and skulls I made a rattle 



To frighten the wolf and carrion crow 



And the homeless dog ; but they would not go : 



So off I flew ; for how could I bear 



To see them gorge their dainty fare ? " 



The wolves of Tartary do not exliibit that fear of man 



