144 MAMMALIA—WOLF. 
three years for their growth, and live to the age of fifteen or twenty years. 
The body of the wolf is about three and a half feet long. 
The wolf grows gray as he grows old, and his teeth wear, like those ot 
most other animals, by using. He sleeps when his belly is full, or when 
he is fatigued, rather by day than night, and is always very easily waked. 
He drinks frequently ; and in times of drought, when there is no water to 
be found in the trunks of trees, or in pools about the forest, he comes often, 
in the day, down to brooks or lakes in the plain. Although very voracious, 
he yet supports hunger for a long time, and often lives four or five days 
without food, provided he is supplied with water. 
The wolf has great strength, particularly in his fore parts, in the muscles 
of his neck and jaws. He carries off a sheep in his mouth, without letting 
it touch the ground, and runs with it much swifter than the shepherds who 
pursue him, so that nothing but the dogs can overtake him, or oblige him 
to ,uite his prey. He bites cruelly, and always with greater vehemence in 
proportion as he is less resisted; for he uses precautions with such animals 
as attempt to stand upon the defensive. He is cowardly, and never fights 
but when under the necessity of satisfying his hunger, or of making good 
his retreat. When he is wounded by a bullet, he is heard to cry out; and 
yet, when surrounded by the peasants, and attacked with clubs; he never 
howls, but defends himself in silence, and dies as hard as he lived. 
If he happens to be caught in a pit-fall, he is for some time so frightened 
and astonished, that he may be killed without: offering to resist, or taken 
alive without much danger. At that instant, one may clap a collar round 
his neck, muzzle him, and drag him along, without his even giving the 
least signs of anger or resentment. At all other times, he has his senses 
in great perfection. He smells a carcass at the distance of more than a 
league; he also perceives living animals a great way off, and follows them 
a long time upon the scent. Whenever he leaves the wood, he always 
takes care to go out against the wind. When just come to its extremity, 
he stops to examine, by its smell, on all sides, the emanations that may 
come either from his enemy or his prey, which he very nicely distinguishes. 
He prefers those animals which he himself kills to those he finds dead; and 
yet he does not disdain these, though ever so much infected, when no better 
are to be had. He is particularly fond of human flesh ; and, perhaps, if he 
were sufficiently powerful, he would eat no other. Wolves have been seen 
following armies, and arriving in numbers upon the field cf battle, where 
they devoured such dead bodies as were left upon the field, or but negligently 
interred. These, when once accustomed to human flesh, ever after seek 
particularly to attack mankind, choose to fall upon the shepherd rather than 
his flock, and devour women, carry off their children, &c. 
The color of this animal differs according to the different climates in 
which he is bred, and often changes even in the same country. Besides the 
common wolves which are found in France and Germany, there are others 
