HUNTING DIRECTORY. 259 



Manner of distinguishing a Male from a Female Wolf, &a 



To place greyhounds in stations is to post them in a 

 situation between two thickets, when you expect the 

 wolf to leave one of them and to go into the other. 

 . Manner of clistingidshing a He Wolf from a She 

 Wolf by the Feet. — The he wolf has a larger and thicker 

 foot than the she wolf. When the wolf is young, his 

 foot expands as he walks ; when he grows old, his foot 

 is narrower, both before and behind ; his claws are thick, 

 long, and close ; his heel thick and broad, and the fore- 

 part of the foot thicker than the hmder part. When 

 the wolf goes with assurance ; that is, when he walks his 

 ordinary pace, he commonly puts the hind foot into the 

 step or track of the fore foot. It is easy to perceive 

 this in wet weather, or in snow ; but when he goes at a 

 trot, the hind foot keeps at the distance of three fingers 

 from the fore foot. The she wolf has a longer and nar- 

 rower foot than the male ; her heel is smaller and closer, 

 and her claws are not so strong. By taking notice of 

 these differences, the sportsman may know whether he 

 is in the track of a he or a she wolf. 



The Time in ivhich Wolves are in Heat. — It is com- 

 monly in winter that these animals are in heat ; but 

 some she wolves are not in heat so early as others. The 

 old ones are more early, and the young ones later. In 

 general, they are not in heat for the first time till they 

 are nearly two years old, or between twenty-one and 

 twenty-two months ; because, as the mothers are in heat 

 again the same year they litter, the young ones being- 

 then only nine or ten months old, have not attained a 

 sufficient growth to be in heat ; so that they are not in 

 that state till the second heat which comes upon the 



