THE BLACK WOLF. 151 
the species, appears in doubt whether it be not hy- 
brid ; although in a former part of the same account,* 
he maintains the gradual extinction of mule breeds 
between wolf and dog. This is the wolf of Southern 
Europe, and is the predominant species of Spain, 
where the dark brown variety of the more open 
mountain ranges is even still more powerful and 
heavy than the black. We have seen a letter from 
an English gentleman holding a high public station 
in the Peninsula, wherein he describes a wolf-hunt 
in the mountains near Madrid. There was a battue 
of the country people driving the game towards the 
mountain, where the sportsmen, armed with rifles, 
were placed in ambush. One came bounding up- 
wards towards him, so large, that he took it, while 
driving through the high grass and bushes, for a 
donkey. The slight noise of cocking his nfle was, 
however, sufficient to warn the animal, for it turned 
off out of sight. At the close of the hunt seven 
were found slain, and their weight was so consider- 
able, that, although the gentleman is both active 
and in the flower of life, he could not lift one en- 
tirely from the ground. The specimen we were 
enabled to figure came from the banks of the Tagus ; 
it was equal in size to the largest mastiff, of a very 
dark brown colour, with ears rather larger and the 
muzzle thicker than in the common wolf; but, 
withal, resembling a very large and shagey wolf-dog. 
The Spanish wolves congregated formerly in the 
passes of the Pyrenees in large troops, and even 
* Dict. des Sciences Naturelles. au mot Chien. 
