570 
with such birds as they can get. The early settlers of the county 
declare that wildcats were found in the county between 1835 and 
1840, but I can get no proof of their being found later. 
TIMBER-WOLF. 
Canis occidentalis (Richardson). 
Canis lupus occidentalis Richard., Fauna Bor. Amer., Mamm., I., 1829, p. 60. 
The timber-wolf ranged originally over all the timbered portions 
of the United States and the adjoining portions of Mexico and 
Canada. Whether all the forms found in this territory should be 
classified as belonging to one or more species has not been well 
settled. They were formerly abundant along the wooded bluffs 
and the forest areas everywhere throughout Illinois, and are still 
_found in the state occasionally in various localities. 
The species varies so greatly in both size and color that no exact 
description of it can be given. Judging from the scanty material 
available, perhaps the average specimens met with in this state 
might be described as follows: 
Length, 4 feet (1220 mm.)> tail, 15 inches (380 mim.); 
Young pups with soft woolly hair, buff to ochraceous in color, 
lighter below. Ears tipped with tawny ochraceous bordered with 
black. 
General color of adult gray, with more or less ochraceous. Color 
lighter below, the feet sometimes becoming nearly white. 
In the wilderness wolves live chiefly on rabbits and deer. The 
number of deer killed by them is enormous. In more ctvilized sec- 
tions of the country they take up with whatever animals they can 
catch and kill. Their liking for sheep is proverbial, and a bounty 
on wolf scalps is still offered in most parts of the state. During the 
years 1883 to 1905 inclusive, bounties were paid on 159 wolves 
killed in Champaign county. Wolves have been reported within 
the county since that date, and it is not at all unlikely that a few 
still exist in the heavy timber along the Sangamon River and 
the Vermilion. 
They den in such shelter as is furnished by caves, upturned 
trees, etc. There are six to ten pups in a litter. Judging from the 
list of bounties paid in this county, the number in a litter here is 
from four to nine. 
