THE WOLVES. 141 
holes, or under the most sheltered and impenetrable 
covers, where a bed of moss is gathered by the 
mother for their comfort and necessary warmth. 
The male wolves are accused of a desire to devour 
the whelps as long as they are blind; and the fact 
is well known that the females practise this unna- 
tural brutality if the young have been handled, or 
her attention or suspicion be raised by some causc 
which, it seems, excites in her an idea of apprehen- 
sion for their safety, and is manifested by so singular 
a mode of expression. After the eyes are open, the 
male wolf is no longer an object of maternal fears ; 
he then joins in the care of rearing the young, and 
in bringing partridges, moorfowl, rats, and moles to 
the lair; and both stages of the whelp’s existenee 
indicate the further operation of secondary causes 
all in unison with those already noticed. With 
the growth of her progeny, the she-wolf increases 
in vigilance and in daring. By degrees they are 
led by her to drink, two or three times a day, to 
the nearest sequestered water. As they increase 
in stature, both the parents take them out to 
hunt. 
It is at this time that families of wolves are often 
seen in company skirting the vicinity of habitations. 
By degrees, however, the young acquire strength ; 
and ere the autumn ends, the male has forsaken the 
troop and taken to his solitary habits; the mother 
remaining with her litter, and often keeping together 
through the next winter and spring season; it ap- 
