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CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 





The average height of the common wolf is about two feet six inches before, and two feet four 

 inches behind ; and the length of the body, from the tip of the muzzle to the beginning of the tail, three 

 feet eight inches. The cubs of the wolf are born with their eyes shut ; the female goes with young 

 sixty-three days, and has eight or nine at a litter ; in these respects exactly resembling the dog. 

 The parent wolves punish their whelps if they emit a scream of pain ; they bite, maltreat, and drag 

 them by the tail, till they have learned to suffer in silence. The male wolves are accused of a desire 

 to devour the whelps during the time they are blind ; and the female will act thus unnaturally, if hel- 

 ical's are aroused as to their safety. After the eyes are open the male joins her in the care of rearing 

 the young, and in bringing partridges, moor-fowls, rats, and moles to the lair. With the growth of her 

 progeny the she-wolf becomes more vigilant and daring. She conducts them to the nearest sequestered 

 water two or three times a day, that they may drink. As they increase in stature, both parents take 

 them out to hunt. The average duration of life is from fifteen to twenty years. 



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WOLVES OF FRANCE. 



Wolves howl most frequently when the weather is about to change to wet. They grovel with the 

 nose in the earth, instead of digging with their paws, when they wish to conceal a part of their food,' 

 or the droppiugs about their lairs. Wolf-hunters commonly assert that the animal is weak in the 

 loins, and, when first put to speed, that his hind quarters seem to waver; but when warmed, that he 

 will run, without halting, from the district where he has been hunted, taking a direct line for some 

 favourite cover, perhaps forty or more miles distant. On these occasions a wolf will leap upon walls 

 above eight feet high, cross rivers obliquely with the current, even if it be the Rhine, and never offer 

 battle, unless he be fairly turned ; then he will endeavour to cripple the opponent by hasty snaps at the 

 fore legs, and resume his route. The track of a wolf is readily distinguished from that of a dog by the 

 two middle claws being close together, while in the dog they are separated ; the marks, however, when 

 the wolf is at speed, and the middle toes are separated, can be determined by the claws being deepen 

 and the impression more hairy ; the print is also longer and narrower, and the ball of the foot more 

 prominent. 



The wolf is endowed- with great sagacity. His powers or scent are very delicate, his hearing 

 acute, and his habits cautious. His burrow is said to have been the work of other animals, as the bear, 

 the badger, the jackal, and the fox, and he only fits it for his own use. This labour is done in com- 

 munities, so that even bears cannot dislodge them. In France and Southern Germany, they retreat 

 under fallen trees, in the hollows under large and old roots, in caves, clefts of rocks, or overhanging 

 banks, but always in the most secluded and dense covers. A wolf's den has been seen in a hollow 

 tree, accessible between some high roots. 



