HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 317 



the place with great circumspection ; where they 

 sometimes find two or three Wolves assembled, 

 leaping up, and straining themselves to catch the 

 bait, which is placed just within their reach ; and 

 while the animals are busily employed in this way, 

 the hunters being provided with fire-arms, seldom 

 fail to dispatch them. In a convenient place at the 

 foot of a declivity, they make a small inclosure of 

 strong pales, so high, that the Wolf, having once 

 entered, cannot return again. An opening is left 

 at the top of the bank ; and a Sheep that has been 

 long dead, is the bait ; to which he is allured by 

 long trains, made from different places where he is 

 known to haunt. As soon as he arrives at the spot, 

 he examines every part of the inclosure ; and find- 

 ing no other way to come at the booty, he precipi- 

 tates himself to the bottom ; and having made a 

 plentiful meal, endeavours in vain to re-ascend. 

 His disappointment at not being able to get back 

 is productive of the most* dreadful howlings, which 

 alarm his enemies ; and they either take him alive, 

 or dispatch him with bludgeons. It is remarkable, 

 that when this animal finds there is no possibility 

 of escaping, his courage entirely forsakes him, and 

 he is for some time so stupefied with fear, that he 

 may be killed without offering to resist, or taken 

 alive without much danger. Wolves are sometimes 

 taken in strong nets, into which they are driven by 

 the hunters, who surround a large tract of land, and 

 with drums, horns, and other instruments, accom- 

 panied with loud cries from a large company as- 

 sembled upon the occasion, drive the animals 

 towards the entrance of the nets, where they are 

 entangled, and killed with clubs and hatchets. 

 Great care must be taken to secure them at first : 



