THE NORTH AMERICAN WOI;F. 71 



Arctic circle on the north, to Spain, and perhaps to Morocco on the west side of tin- <>],! ('oniinei,. 

 Syri.-i, :m<l beyond the Chrislniii in India ; iintl t.o near tint Isthmus of I'aimma in tin- New World. 



Pother south, in the last-mentioned part of the globe, the\ are, |,,. remarks, replaced i.y an abeM.mi 

 canine, the red wolf of Olivier ; and in the first by hyivnas, the |>;iint..-d Kcaon, and perhaps l,y ml,,-, 

 species not as yet fully developed. "In China," says Colonel Smith, ' uo|\ es al...iind in lie.- vicinity 

 of Xantung,t but how far they are found to the south is not known." 



Whether the American wolves are or are not distinct from those of the eastern hemisphere, or 

 primeval varieties, is not as yet satisfactorily established. The high authority of Sir Join, Kiehanl ..n 

 leans towards the opinion that they are different species; while Prince Maximilian of \\ied, p.-. 

 still more practically conversant with the races of both continents, thinks that they are not sj>ccificallv 

 distinct. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN WOLF. 



Tins is the Missouri wolf of Lewis and Clark, and Sir John Richardson, in describing it, state-, tliat 

 he does not mean to assert that the differences existing between it and its Kuropean convene] 

 sufficiently permanent to constitute them, in the eye of the naturalist, distinct species. Tin- same kind 

 of differences, he remarks, may be traced between the foxes and native tares of the domestic dog of tin- 

 New World and those of the Old; the former possessing finer, denser, and longer fur, ami broader 

 feet, well calculated for running on the snow. Sir John was led to these remarks by comparing living 

 specimens of American and Pyrenean wolves; but he had not an Opportunity of ascertaining whether 

 the Lapland and Siberian wolves, inhabiting a similar climate with those of America, bad similar 

 peculiarities of form, or whether they differed in physiognomy from the wolf of the south of Km-op. - 

 He therefore considered it unadvisable to designate the northern wolf of America by a distinct specific 

 appellation, lest he should unnecessarily add to the list of synonyms. He adds, that the won! 

 occidentalis, which is affixed to the Lin mean name of cants lupus, is to be considered as merely marking 

 the geographical position of that peculiar race of wolf. 



This animal, oil the same authority, is veiy common throughout the northern regions of Ameriea, 

 but more or less abundant in different districts. Their foot-marks may be seen by the side of e\erv 

 stream, and a traveller can rarely pass a night in these wilds without hearing them howling around 

 him. They are very numerous on the sandy plains which, lying to the eastward of the Kockv 

 Mountains, extend from the sources of the Peace and the Saskatchewan rivers towards the Missouri. 

 There bands of them hang on the skirts of the bison herds, and prey upon the sick and straggling 

 <al\es. Ordinarily, they do not venture to attack the full-grown animal, for (lie hunters state that 

 they often see wolves walking through a herd of bulls without exciting the least alarm; and the 

 marksmen, when they crawl towards a buffalo for the purpose of shooting it, occasionally weai a cap 

 with two ears, in imitation of the head of a wolf, knowing from experience that they will be suffered 

 to approach near in that guise. "On the Barren-Grounds, through which the Coppermine l!i\er 

 flows," says Sir John, "I had more than once an opportunity of seeing a single wolf in close pui-suit 

 of a reindeer, and I witnessed a chase on Point Lake, when covered with ice, which terminated in a 

 fine buck reindeer being overtaken by a large white wolf, and disabled by a bite in the flank. An 

 Indian, who was concealed on the borders of the lake, ran in and cut the deer s throat with his knife, 

 when the wolf at once relinquished his prey and sneaked oil'. In the chase the poor deer urged ii~ 

 night by great bounds, which for a time exceeded the speed of the wolf, but it stopped BO frequently to 

 ga/e on its relentless enemy, that the latter, toiling on at a 'long gallop,' with its tongue lolling out ot 

 its mouth, gradually came up. After each hasty look the poor deer redoubled its efforts to escape ; 

 lint, either exhausted by fatigue, or enervated by fear, it became, just before it was overtaken, scarcely 

 abl e to keep its feet." 



The wolves destroy many foxes, which they easily run down, if they perceive them on a plain at 

 any distance from their hiding-places; and in January, lSi'7, a wolf was seen to catch an Arctic fox 

 within sight of Fort Franklin, and, though immediately pursued by hunters on snow shoes, it h,.r> ..I) 

 its prey in its mouth without apparently diminishing its speed. The same wolf continued for some 



* Canis pictus. t Changtung. 



