370 



HUN T I N G. 



Hyena. 



feline tribes, are closely allied in hr.l-i'.-i rr.,V disposition 

 ~~~' to the lion and tiger. But none readily attack man. 

 Their depredations, nevertheless, are not confined to 

 smaller animals, as some of them are endowed with 

 considerable strength. The leopard is particularly 

 expert in climbing trees, whence it drops or springs on 

 its prey. It greedily devours dogs; but seldom prowl- 

 ing about by day, it chiefly commits nocturnal ravages. 

 All animals of prey, of every tribe, are for the most part 

 occupied in seeking their sustenance at dawn and twi- 

 light. Leopards are roused by dogs, and shot with 

 fire-arms or arrows. The natives of the East also cap- 

 ture them in deep pits, which are baited with the car- 

 cases of beasts. 



Animals of the canine species are endowed by na- 

 ture with the most remarkable sagacity. Almost all, 

 with suitable treatment, may be rendered tractable, 

 while those of the feline tribes seem absolutely indocile 

 and void of attachment. The hyasna is one of the fier- 

 cest of the canine kind ; its strength enables it to resist 

 the lion, and encourages it to attack the panther. It 

 overpowers the bear, and readily assails mankind. Act- 

 ing as a decoy, it is said to imitate the cries of other 

 animals, or, by a frightful howl, to scare a whole herd, 

 that it may then seize some one of the stragglers. It 

 is a solitary animal, inhabiting the clefts of rocks and 

 caverns in mountains, whence it issues forth on its 

 prey at night. Hyaenas are hunted by dogs, and traps 

 are set for them, but few arc taken. One of the most 

 remarkable methods of capturing these animals is prac- 

 tised by the gypsies of Aleppo ; who, according to M. 

 Olivier, enter with torches in the day-time into the 

 grottos known as the haunt of hyaenas, and, on per- 

 ceiving one, make a great outcry, or boldly approach, 

 speaking aloud, in order to intimidate die animal. The 

 hyaena, which is terrible by night, does no injury by 

 clay ; and the effect of the light and clamour are such, 

 that it retires farther and farther to the extremity of 

 the cavern, where no sooner do the gypsies reach it, 

 than it is bound, muzzled, and led out. When taken 

 after other methods by the Arabs, they carefully bury 

 the head, lest the brain should be employed against 

 them in sorcery and enchantment 



Hunting the wolf, an animal the type of destruction, 

 and the enemy of the shepherd, has been every where 

 and in every age an ardent pursuit. But its sa- 

 gacity is so great, that while others run headlong into 

 danger, it carefully avoids the snare. When roused by 

 hunger, the ferocity of the wolf is great. It attacks 

 man, and runs down creatures far larger than it- 

 self. It boldly leaps inclosures, and steals into cotta- 

 ges to carry away children, which are always seized 

 by the throat. A wolf suddenly appeared in a dis- 

 trict of France, which it ravaged a whole year about 

 1765, proving so crafty, that an association of 63 pa- 

 rishes provided a band of 40,000 men for its destruc- 

 tion. At length 40 huntsmen and their dogs accom- 

 plished its destruction. Hunting the wolf was anxi- 

 ously enjoined by the laws of this country, parti- 

 cularly in Scotland, formerly a wild and mountain- 

 ous country, whence it could not be easily extirpated. 

 King Edgar is said to have effected the utter destruction 

 of wolves in England, by commuting the tribute of 

 money into an annual tribute of the heads or skins of 

 these animals. They still subsisted in Ireland in the 

 reign of Elizabeth, and were not extirpated from Scot- 

 land until the year 1670. The means which have been 

 devised of destroying this redoubtable enemy are not 

 ;few ; but owing to the habits and sagacity of the cuU 



Wolf-hunt- 

 ing. 



mal, they are of very uncertain success. Its haunts are Hunting. 

 exceedingly diversified : It sometimes seeks the recesses "* T"* 

 of the woods, sometimes the bottom of the cavern ; 

 it hunts by day and also by night, first assuming one 

 path for its exit, and then another for its return. 

 In certain seasons of the year it has no fixed abode. 

 In Tartary. and other parts of the East, the wolf is hunted 

 by eagles trained specially for the purpr.se. In Eu- 

 rope, the strongest greyhounds and other dogs are em- 

 ployed, and the chace is prosecuted either on foot or on 

 horseback. Much difficulty, however, is experienced 

 in running down the wolf; nay it frequently prove* im- 

 practicable, for the full grown animal is infinitely strong- 

 er than any dog. An old wolf is able to run 20 miles 

 easily, which added to the nature of the ground to 

 which it resorts, often renders the pursuit abortive. 

 The wolf besides, has recourse to many stratagems for 

 deceiving both the dogs and the huntsman. When 

 one is known to infest a district, the first attempt is to 

 dislodge it from the covert, and to bring it to an open 

 chace. But hunting the whelps is more interesting 

 sport, because they have fewer means of defence, nor 

 are they so capable of foiling the hunter as the old and 

 experienced animals. Independent of the constant use of 

 fire arms, it becomes necessary to recur to various stra- 

 tagems, as nets, traps, and pitfalls. If an animal of 

 large size, as a horse or an ox, is discovered to have be- 

 come the prey of a wolf, to which it will return for 

 the purpose of satisfying its appetite, the huntsman 

 drags the carcase above a mile from the spot, always 

 proceeding against the wind. Then leaving it in a place 

 exposed to view, as the wolf will follow, he takes his 

 station in concealment by moonlight, in a spot whence he 

 may pierce the animal with a ball. It is said that the 

 wolf never passes through by a door where it can leap 

 a wall ; whence the position of traps is regulated, so as 

 to deceive its watchfulness. Sometimes the traps are con- 

 structed with springs and iron teeth ; sometimes with 

 a wicket, which yields to gentle pressure, but refuses 

 an exit to the captive. Some years ago, during a ter- 

 rible famine in India, where the miserable sufferers 

 were devoured half alive by wolves, these crealures, 

 emboldened by the want of resistance, continued their 

 ravages after its cessation. They openly attacked men 

 and women, and children at the breast seemed to be their 

 favourite prey. An ingenious and simple apparatus was 

 devised for their destruction. Two bamboos tight or nine 

 feet high, were erected at the opposite sides of'an old well, 

 and their tops being brought together, a basket, contain- 

 ing a kid, was suspended from the junction. A pot of 

 water with a hole in the bottom, loosely stopped by a 

 rag, was hung over the animal, which was kept bleat- 

 ing and in constant agitation by the dripping upon it. 

 Brushwood and thorns disguised the edge of the well, 

 and the wolves in stretching over or leaping up to reach 

 the bait, readily tumbled in. On another occasion, they 

 were successfully smoked out of burrows in the earth, 

 which they had chose for a retreat, or were killed in 

 attempting to escape suffocation. In digging up the 

 burrows, an incredible quantity of trinkets, not less 

 than ten pounds weight, was found belonging to chil- 

 dren they had carried away and devoured. The af- 

 fliction of the unfortunate parents at reco</ni*ing the 

 different orn;>rnents that had decorated their offspring, 

 presented a most impressive scene. At present packi 

 of wolves are said to infest a district of France, 

 where the inability of the inhabitants to resist them, 

 has led to extraordinary instances of their attacks in 

 open day, and on every opportunity. 



