ORDER V. THE CARNIVORA. - 99 



took to the luountains, with the s;ime prrcipitatinn with whicli he had hl't 

 them. Tiie poor piper did nut wholly enjoy his deliverance, for, li)i)kiiiL^- 

 ruefully at his empty wallet, he shook his tist at the departing animal, say- 

 inf, " Ay ! are these your tricks ? Had I known your humor, you should 

 have had your music before your supper." 



Follow Armies. — Wolves are sometimes called the vultures of tlie 

 earth. They snuff the odor of blood from afar, and rush to the field of 

 carnage to gorge themselves with the slain. Much of the ubiquity, indeed, 

 of the species in the northern and eastern hemispheres may be ascribed to the 

 liabit of following the more collective movements of men ; for, allured l)y 

 the scent of slaughter, by the numerous dead horses always left along the 

 lines of operations of armies, wolves are known to follow in the rear to feed 

 upon the carrion ; and in India there iiavc been instances when they actu- 

 ally mixed with the train of attendants, and carried off unguarded children. 

 At other times they have attacked videttes, particularly in winier. During 

 the last campaign of the French armies in the vicinity of ^ ienna, the ^loni- 

 teur mentioned several of the outposts thus molested, and the videltes car- 

 ried off, when a dead wolf and pieces of clothing showed what kind of ene- 

 my had been encountered. After tlie rout of the grand aniiy in liussia, 

 wolves of the Siberian race followed the Russians through Poland and Ger- 

 many to the borders of the Iviiine. Specimens killed in the vicinity, and 

 easily distinguished from the native breed, are still [ireserved in the museums 

 of Neuwicd, Frankfort, Cassel, &o. 



Their FEiiociTY axd Slyness. — In Sweden frequent attacks arc made 

 upon tlie people by wolves during the winter, as they are then often in a 

 famishing eonditi(jn. In one instance a party of sixteen sledges were re- 

 turning from a dance on a cold and starlight night. In the middle of 

 this partv was a sledge occupied by a lady ; at the back of the vehicle sat 

 the servant, and at her feet, on a bearskin, reposed her favorite lapdog. In 

 passing through a wood, a large wolf suddenly sprang out, and jumping 

 into the sledge, seized the poor dog, and was out of sight before any steps 

 could be taken for his rescue. 



The ferocity of these animals is often of a very treacherous character. 

 "We were told by a butcher of New York that he had brought up, and 

 believed that he had tamed, a wolf, which he ke[)t for above two years 

 chained in the slaughter-house, where it lived in complete superabundance 

 of blood and offal. One night, having occasion for some implement which 

 he believed was accessible in the dark, he went in without thinking of the 

 wolf. The butcher wore a thick frieze coat, and while stooping to grope for 

 what he wanted he heard the chain rattle, and instantly he was struck down 

 by the animal springing upon him. Fortunately a favorite cattle-dog had 



