142 



MAMMALIA-WOLF. 



it waits till the animal is asleep. The injuries which it inflicts are usually 

 mortal. To bite off the tail of the ox seems to be its delight. The hysena 

 dog is smaller and slenderer than the hyaena, or the wolf. In color it is of 

 a reddish or yellowish brown, variously mottled, along the sides of the body, 

 and on the legs, in large patches of intermingled black and white. From 

 its completely black nose and muzzle, a strong black line passes up the 

 centre of the forehead to between the ears, which are very large, black on 

 both surfaces, and furnished with a broad and expanded tuft of long, whitish 

 hairs, filling a considerable part of their concavity. Its tail, of moderate 

 length, is covered with long bushy hair, divided in the middle by a ring 

 of black. Its ferocity seems to be untamable. Mr Burchell, who first 

 carried it to England, kept one for twelve months, at the end of which 

 period even its feeder did not dare to lay his hand upon it. 



THE WOLF.i 



The wolf, as well externally as internally, so nearly resembles the dog, 

 that he seems modelled upon the same plan ; and yet he only offers the 

 reverse of the image. If his form be similar, his nature is different ; and 

 indeed they are so unlike in their dispositions, that no two animals can 

 have a more perfect antipathy to each other. A young dog shudders at the 

 sight of a wolf; a dog who is stronger, and who knows his strength, bristles 

 up at the sight, testifies his animosity, attacks him with courage, endeavors 

 to put him to flight, and does all in his power to rid himself of a presence 

 that is hateful to him. They never meet without either flying from, or 

 fighting with each other. If the wolf is the stronger, he tears and devours 

 his prey ; the dog, on the contrary, is more generous, and contents himself 

 with his victory. 



The dog, even in his savage state, is not cruel ; he is easily tamed, and 

 continues firmly attached to his master. The wolf, when taken young, 

 becomes tame, but never has an attachment. Nature is stronger in him 

 than education ; he resumes, with age, his natural dispositions, and returns, 

 as soon as he can, to the woods whence he was taken. Cuvier, however. 



• Cants lupvs, Lin. 



