FAUNA. 241 



of mischief at far too low a figure. Probably 15 millions 

 of roubles, or 2,500,000, would more nearly represent the 

 value of the domestic animals destroyed annually by 

 wolves in European Russia. To this should be added the 

 value of the wild animals destroyed by them. The rein- 

 deer alone killed in Siberia would represent a high figure. 

 Then there is the loss of human life, which can never be 

 accurately known. In 1875 the police reported 161 per- 

 sons killed by wolves. 



In severe winters wolves have been seen in villages 

 within twelve miles of St. Petersburg, and once or twice I 

 have heard of wolves having penetrated even the capital 

 itself. I also heard of several head of elk being destroyed 

 near Payala, a village near St. Petersburg. The village is 

 twelve miles distant from St. Petersburg; it is on the 

 Finnish railway, and between it and the Gulf of Finland 

 is the forest and hunting lodges of Lachta. In this forest 

 bears, wolves, and elks, are found. 



Elk shooting is conducted much in the same way as the 

 ordinary battue for bear ; but the peasants will sometimes 

 follow them for days for the chance of getting a shot. 



My son-in-law gave me the following account of an elk 

 hunt near Ejora, on the Neva, in which he took part : 

 ' One evening in early winter information was brought by 

 a peasant that a herd or family of elks had been tracked 

 to a small wood some miles distant on the opposite side 

 of the river. A party of six were soon formed to go 

 armed in quest. It was eleven o'clock at night; they 

 crossed the river ; traversed some distance, bivouacked for 

 the night ; and at early dawn were again astir. Reaching 

 the wood, they found it skirted on the one side by a marsh, 

 frozen over with ice of no great thickness, and measures 

 to drive the elks thither were speedily resolved on. They 

 were accompanied by six peasants, and the twelve men 

 were soon stationed in a semi-circle, with the frozen marsh 

 for a base. By previous concert they gradually contracted 



R 



