RAVAGES OF THE WOLF. 151 



" That Edgar failed in his attempts at extirpation is manifest from a mandamus of Edward I., to all 

 bailiffs, &c., to give their assistance to his faithful and beloved Peter Corbet, whom the king had enjoined 

 to take and destroy Wolves . . . in all forests and parks and other places in the counties of Gloucester, 

 Worcester, Hereford, and Salop, where they could be found. . . . Even so late as 1577, the 

 flocks of Scotland appear to have suffered from the ravages of Wolves, which do not seem to have been 

 rooted out of that portion of the kingdom till about the year 1680, when Sir Ewen Cameron's hand 

 laid the last Wolf low. In Ireland, Wolves must have lingered as late as the year 1710 ; about which 

 time the last presentment for killing them in the county of Cork was made." 



The Wolf is about the size of a large Shepherd's Dog, measuring some five feet from snout to tip of 

 tail : of this length about twenty inches are taken up by the tail. The height at the shoulders is about 

 thirty-two inches. The skin is of a dark yellowish-grey colour, or sometimes almost black; the hair is 

 long and coarse in the northern varieties, which have to sustain existence through a long, cold winter, 

 and shorter in the southern kinds, which enjoy a warmer climate. There is also a good deal of 

 variation in colour, according to the country from which the animal comes. 



The muzzle has much the same shape as that of many Shepherd's Dogs, but the ears are very 

 upright and pointed, and the eyes are set obliquely ; in this respect the difference between a Wolf and 

 a Dog is very striking the obliquity of the eye in the former gives him a most sinister expression. 

 The pupil of the eye is round. The bushy tail, too, is not curled up like a Dog's, but held down, almost 

 between the hind legs. But perhaps the most striking difference from the Dog is in the voice ; the 

 Wolf never barks that is entirely a civilised habit : even Dogs allowed to become wild lose it but howls 

 in a horrible and ghastly manner. 



The Wolf usually lives in solitary places in mountains ; but in Spain he is said sometimes to 

 make his lair in corn-fields, in close proximity to inhabited dwellings. Here he lives with his wife and 

 family, usually cache during the day, and issuing forth at night to take his prey. During the warmer 

 periods of the year Wolves, as a rule, hunt each one for himself, but in the winter they often unite 

 into great packs, and pursue their prey over the snow at a rapid pace and with indomitable perse- 

 verance. Swift and untiring must be the animal which, on an open plain, can escape from them ; even 

 the Horse, perfectly constructed as he is for rapid running, is almost certain to succumb, unless he can 

 reach a village before his pace begins to flag. They never spring upon an animal from an ambush 

 the nearest approach ever made to such a mode of attack being their practice of attacking sheepfolds 

 by leaping into the midst of the flock and killing right and left ; when they reach their prey, too, the first 

 onslaught is made with the teeth, and never by a blow of the paw. Thus, a Wolf's attack like that 

 of all members of the genus Canis is entirely different from a Cat's. The Cat lies in ambush all alone, 

 springs upon the passing prey, which, if he misses he scarcely ever pursues, and kills by a blow of the 

 paw. The Dog and Wolf attack openly, sometimes alone, but oftener in company, pursue their prey 

 with unflagging energy until it falls a victim, and give the death-wound at once with their teeth. To 

 shepherds the Wolf is, and has been from the earliest times, a most unmitigated curse. A single Wolf 

 will leap the wall of a sheepfold and murder perhaps a quarter or a third of the flock before his lust 

 of slaughter is satisfied. Of course, he cannot eat more than one, or part of one, and the others 

 he slays from wanton cruelty. Mutton is naturally his standing dish, as it can be procured, if at 

 all, in abundance, and with comparatively little difficulty ; but he is not at all particular, and will eat 

 Deer, Goats, Birds, and even Reptiles. But his favourite meat, curious to relate, is Dog, and there 

 are many instances related of the eagerness and recklessness shown by Wolves to obtain this cannibal 

 feast, " Wolves have been known to carry off a Pointer from a sledge going at full gallop. The animal 

 leaps with a single bound amongst the three or four persons in the vehicle, who remain stupefied at 

 so much axidacity, seizes his innocent victim, and plunges again into the forest. The whole is done in 

 less time than it takes to tell. Another time, it is a young Newfoundland, which his master, travel- 

 ling on horseback, has placed before him, on the pommel of his large saddle ; the Wolf sees him, leaps 

 upon and seizes him, and carries him off without touching man or horse."* 



If the Wolf confined himself to Sheep and Dogs, matters would be bad, indeed, but still endurable ; 

 unfortunately, however, this horrible savage likes human flesh just as well as " flesh of muttons, beefs. 



* L. nault, quoted by Erehin. 



