332 THE FOX. 



A Norwegian gentleman, named Grieff, " reared up two young Wolves until they 

 were full-grown. They were male and female. The latter became so tame that she 

 played with me, and licked my hands, and I had her often with me in the sledge in 

 winter. Once when- 1 was absent she got loose from the chain she was bound with, 

 and was away for three days. When I returned home I went out on a hill, and called 

 * Where is my Tussa ? ' as she was named, when she immediately came home, and 

 fondled with me like the most friendly dog. She could not bear other people, but the 

 male, on the contrary, was friendly with others but not with me, from the moment when 

 he once seized a hen, and I whipped him with a carrier whip. As they were well 

 treated, they got very large and had fine skins." 



When Wolves and dogs are domesticated in the same residence, a mutual attachment 

 will often spring up between them, although they naturally bear the bitterest hatred to 

 each other. A mixed offspring is sometimes the result of this curious friendship, and 

 it is said that these half-bred animals are more powerful and courageous than the 

 ordinary dog. Mr. Palliser possessed a remarkably fine animal of this kind, the 

 father of which was a white Wolf, and the mother an ordinary Indian dog. Its fur 

 was white, like that of its Wolf-parent. 



When " Ishmah," as the dog was named, was first purchased from its Indian owners, 

 he wa*s so terrified at the white face of his new master, that he always ran away when- 

 ever he saw him, and could not be persuaded to come within two hundred yards. Ishmah 

 was then tied up with a cord, but the moment that he was left to himself he held the 

 cord to the ground with his paw, severed it in an instant with his sharp teeth, leaped out 

 of the window, and dashed off to his former owners. After a while, however, he became 

 reconciled to his white master, and proved to be a most faithful and useful ally ; drag- 

 ging a small sledge that contained the heavier necessaries of a hunter's life, and partak- 

 ing with his master all the pleasures and privations of a nomad existence. On account of 

 his wolfish ancestry, he was rather apt to run off and play with the young Wolves instead 

 of attending to his duty, but was never induced to throw off his allegiance. On one 

 occasion the dog saved the life of his master by lying close to him on a bitterly freez- 

 ing night, and with his long warm fur preserving him from the terrible death by frost. 



In former days the British islands were infested with these savage brutes, and 

 suffered greatly from their depredations, until the issuing of the famous edict which 

 ordained that Wolves' heads should be accepted in the lieu of taxes, and which speedily 

 caused their extinction. In Scotland and Ireland, however, they lingered for a much 

 longer time, the last British Wolf being, as it is supposed, killed in Scotland in the 

 seventeenth century. 



The Wolf is rather a prolific animal, producing from three to nine young at a litter. 

 In January the mother Wolf begins to prepare her habitation for the expected inmates, 

 a task in which she is protected, and perhaps assisted, by her mate, who has won her 

 in fair fight from his many rivals. He attaches himself solely to one single mate, and 

 never leaves her until the young Wolves are able to shift for themselves. The nest in 

 which the little family is nurtured is softly and warmly lined with dry moss and with 

 the fur of the mother, which she pulls from her own body. March is the usual month 

 for the appearance of the little family, and they remain under the maternal protection 

 for seven or eight months. They begin to eat meat at four or five weeks of age, and 

 are taught by their parents to join in the chase. 



According to some systematic naturalists the FOXES are placed in the genus Canis, 

 together with the dogs and the wolves. Those eminent zoologists, however, who have 

 arranged the magnificent collections in the British Museum, have decided upon sepa- 

 rating the Foxes from the dogs and wolves, and placing them in the genus Vulpes. To 

 this decision they have come for several reasons, among which may be noted the shape 

 of the pupil of the eye, which in the Foxes is elongated, but in the animals which com- 

 pose the genus Canis is circular. The ears of the Foxes are triangular in shape, and 

 pointed, and the tail is always exceedingly bushy. 



A very powerful scent is poured forth from the Fox in consequence of some glands 

 which are placed near the root of the tail, and furnish the odorous secretion. Glands 



