THE WOLF. 457 



dense cadar-swamp, near the present site of the Carp Vil- 

 hige, in the Township of Hiintly. I had heard the Wolves 

 howling after Deer on several occasions previously; and I 

 was also aware that they had killed a number of sheep and 

 a few^ young cattle in the immediate vicinity. 



The Wolves soon scented the bait, and gathered around 

 it — as I frequently had the pleasure of listening to their 

 inimitable music in the swamp. I visited the spot three 

 times in each week, always stepping in the same tracks 

 going and returning, from and back to the main traveled 

 road. I found that, during three weeks, they had not vent- 

 ured nearer than about six or eight feet of the bait, and 

 that up to that point the snow all around it was beaten 

 down by their tracks. 



At the beginning of the fourth week, they attacked and 

 devoured the greater part of the offal. I then renewed the 

 bait, and set a trap in front of it where they had com- 

 menced eating. I was particular, after the trap was jilaced, 

 in leaving the surface of the snow exactly in the same con- 

 dition as I found it. Next morning I found the springs of 

 the trap bare; the snow had been scratched away, and the 

 bait had been eaten on the other side. I then set another 

 traj) on the opposite side, and next morning found both 

 traps bare. I w^as somewhat puzzled, but I determined to 

 persevere. I then set both traps in such a manner that, 

 should the Wolves attemi)t the scratching trick again, the 

 first part of the traps that could possibly be touched would 

 be the pan. They came that night, and one remained there; 

 for, to my great satisfaction, I found him, in the morning, 

 fast in one of the traps. He was a fine, large specimen, 

 twenty-eight inches in height at the shoulder, and corres- 

 pondingly long-bodied and bulky. His weight must have 

 been at least eighty i)0un(Ls, oi' perhaps more. 



As it has fortunately turned out, for the purposes of 

 this sketch, I put Mr. Lupus through a somewhat critical 

 examination. I poked him u^) smartly, and exx^erimented 

 upon him, with the view of learning something which I did 

 not then know about the amiable members of his interesting 



