CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 



933 



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FUENCII WOLVES. 



gullet, ana neck; their eyes are very small, and their whole aspect peculiarly savage and sinister. 

 The Swedish and Norwegian wolves are similar to the Russian in form, but appear heavier and 

 deeper in the shoulder, lighter in color, and in winter, totally white. The Alpine wolves are 

 brownish gray, and smaller than the French ; those of Italy, and to the eastward as far as 

 Turkey, are fulvous. Toward the Arctic regions of our own continent, they are nearly white ; 

 further south, some are brown and some black. In Great Britain, these fierce animals were once 

 numerous and destructive ; the power of several kings was exerted in vain to extirpate them. 

 They are, however, now altogether extinct in the Three Kingdoms. In the mountainous parts 

 of France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, they are still numerous, and in 

 some districts they are often formidable to the inhabitants. 



In Asia there are several varieties, as the Landgaii, of Nepaul ; the Beriah, of India ; the C. 

 hodopMlax, of Japan ; and the Black Derbofn, of the mountains of Arabia and Syria. These 

 present peculiarities wdiich have led some naturalists to regard them as of distinct species. 



Sir' John Richardson enumerates the following varieties among the North American wolves: 

 the Common Gray Wolf, Canis lupus griseus, the Mahaygan of the Cree Indians, and the Ama- 

 rok of the Esquimaux; the White Wolf, C. I. albus ; the Pied Wolf, C. I. sticte ; the Duskv 

 or Clouded Wolf, C. I. nubilus ; the Black American Wolf, C. I. ater ; and the Prairie 

 Wolf, the Lupus latrans of Say. To these we may add the Red Texan Wolf, C. I. rufus. 



As we regard the various kinds of dogs of one species, so we consider the w r olves as of one 

 species. They differ in size, form, and color, but, as we have said, all are savage, fierce, and pre- 

 daceous. The first named, the Graij Wolf, identical with the common wolf of Europe, was spread 

 over our country, in its early days, from Maine to Georgia. The first settlers of Boston were obliged 

 to fence in their cattle at night to protect them from the wolves. An old author says : " The wolf 

 of Carolina is the dog of the woods. It is neither so large nor so fierce as the European wolf 

 They go in great droves in the night to hunt deer, which they do as well as the hot pack of 

 hounds : nay, one of these will hunt down a deer. They are often so poor that they can hardly 

 run. When they catch no prey, they go to a swamp and fill their belly full of mud ; if afterward 

 they chance to get any thing of flesh, they will disgorge the mud and eat the other. When 

 Uiey hunt in tire night, and there are a great many together, they make the most hideous and 

 frightful noise that ever was heard. The fur makes good muffs. The skin«, dressed to a parch- 

 ment, makes the best drum-heads, and if tanned, makes the best sort of shoes for the summer- 

 :ountries." We hardly need say, that with much truth this account mingles some absurd fiction. 



Although this animal has disappeared from the settled parts of our continent, it is still common 



Vol. I.— 30 



