328 



SKELETON OF WOLF. 



until it has destroyed its prey ; but the corresponding portions of the Wolf's anatomy 

 belong evidently to an animal which is not intended by nature to exert the clinging 

 hold of the cat tribe, but to overtake its prey by fair chase, to run, and to bite. 



The sharp teeth with which the Wolf is furnished are strong enough to cut their 

 way through substances which might be thought impervious to teeth. A hungry Wolf 

 will devour a raw hide with enviable ease, and, when hard pressed by its unsatisfied 

 appetite, has often been known to make a meal on thick leather traces that had been 

 left unguarded for a few minutes. 



Bold as is the Wolf in ordinary circumstances, it is one of the most suspicious 

 animals in existence, and is infected with the most abject terror at the sight of any 

 object to which its eyes, nose, or ears are unaccustomed. 



Very fortunately for the hunters, this excess of caution on the part of the Wolf is 

 the means of preserving their slaughtered game from the hungry maws of the Wolves 

 that ever accompany a hunter, and hang on his steps in hope of obtaining the offal of 

 such animals as he may slaughter, or of securing such creatures as he may wound and 

 fail to kill on the spot. In order to preserve the carcass of a slain buffalo or deer, 



SKELETON OP WOLF. 



the hunter merely plants a stick by the side of the animal, and ties to the top of the 

 stick a fluttering piece of linen, or any similar substance, and then goes his way, secure 

 that the Wolves will not dare to approach such an object. In default of a strip of 

 calico or linen, the inflated bladder of the dead animal is an approved " scare-wolf ; " 

 and, as a last resource, a strip of its hide is used for that purpose. 



To this peculiarity have been owing, not only the preservation of game, but the 

 lives of defenceless travellers. It has several times happened that a band of Wolves 

 have been pressing closely upon the footsteps of their human quarry, and have been 

 checked in their onward course by the judicious exhibition of certain articles of which 

 the Wolves were suspicious, and from which they kept aloof until they had satisfied 

 themselves of its harmlessness. As one article began to lose its efficacy, another was 

 exhibited, so that the persecuted travellers were enabled to gain the refuge of some 

 friendly village, and to baffle the furious animals by means which in themselves were 

 utterly inadequate to their effects. A piece of rope trailed from a horse or carriage 

 is always an object of much fear to the Wolves. 



