40 THE THIBETAN WOLF. 



On the 5th June, 1866, I was encamped at the foot of the Lanak Pass, between the 

 Tsomoriri Lake and Hanle, when one of my servants brought in a young Black Wolf appa- 

 rently about three weeks old. He had procured it from some wandering Tartars, and inform- 

 ed me that they had another one. I at once recognized the value of my prize, and sent off a 

 man to secure the other cub, which arrived next morning. I had only heard of one other 

 Black Wolf having been met with by Englishmen, and that had been shot the previous year 

 in the neighbourhood of the Mansarovara Lake. I was, therefore, particularly anxious to 

 keep the young Wolves alive, and in this I was fortunately successful. Emptying a ' kilta ' 

 I converted it into a kennel for the cubs, which I fastened to opposite ends of the only dog 

 chain I possessed. I made the middle of this fast to an iron tent peg, which was driven into 

 the ground, and thus the little beasts were secured. They fed ravenously on raw meat, and 

 before long became pretty tame. When I marched they were bundled chain and all into the 

 ' kilta] the lid of which was then tied on, and thus they journeyed to the next halting place, 

 the 'kilta' being slung horizontally either to the pack saddle of a Yak, or behind a coolie's 

 shoulders. On camp being pitched they were taken out and pegged down. One night they 

 managed to draw their peg, but they were fortunately discovered next morning, the chain hav- 

 ing become entangled in a bush, about a mile from my tent. They accompanied me for 

 more than two months, and before that time had become a good deal too large for their 

 abode : they gnawed holes in it, and used to travel with their heads sticking out at opposite 

 ends. 



As I was quartered at Meerut, whither I had to return by the 15th of August, I was 

 afraid that the heat of the plains would be too much for them ; so I left them in charge of a 

 friend at the hill station of Kussowlie, near Simla, till the end of October, when I had them 

 sent down to me. By this time they had immensely increased in size, but although they 

 had not seen me for so long, they recognized me, and also my greyhound, of which they had 

 previously been very fond. They soon became much attached to me, and would fawn on me 

 like dogs, licking my face and hands ; they were always, however, ready to growl and snap 

 at a stranger. I took them down to Agra at the time of the great Durbar there, and used 

 to let them loose in camp with my dogs, so tame had they become. 



I presented them to the Zoological Society, and they reached the Regent's Park gardens 

 in safety : they lived there for eight or nine years, and produced several litters of cubs. 



All the cubs were black, a fact which, I think goes far to prove that the Black Wolf is a 

 separate species,* or at any rate a permanent variety, and not a mere instance of melanism, 

 as some naturalists have supposed. 



It has been stated, however, that a grey Wolf has been seen with a black cub : this 

 might be accounted for by the not improbable explanation that black and grey Wolves, 

 although distinct species, occasionally interbreed. It is well known that the Wolf will readily 

 cross with the Dog, and that the progeny is fertile, showing how closely the two species are 

 allied. 



* The Black Wolf is now recognized as a distinct species, and has been named Canis niger by Dr. Sclater. 



