OF WILD ANIMALS 255 



to eat Hm. Ten shots from a .32 calibre revolver had no effect. 

 Later a rifle ball drove the bear away, but only after it had eaten 

 the left thigh and part of the body. (Forest and Stream, 

 Feb. 8, 1908.) 



The Status of the Gray Wolf. In America wolves 

 rarely succeed in killing men, although they often follow men's 

 trails in the hope of spoil of some kind. But there are excep- 

 tions. 



In 1912, around Lake Nipigon, Province of Ontario, Canada, 

 there existed a reign of terror from wolves. The first man killed 

 was a half-breed mail-carrier. Then, in December, another 

 mail-carrier, who was working the lumber camps north of Lake 

 Nipigon, was killed by wolves and completely devoured. The 

 snow showed a terrible struggle, in which four large wolves had 

 been killed by the carrier. 



In Russia and in France In the days preceding the use of 

 modem breech-loading firearms, the gray wolves of Europe 

 were very bold, and a great many people were killed by them. 



Killings by Wild Beasts in India. The killing by wild 

 beasts of unarmed and defenseless native men, women and 

 children in India is a very different matter from man-killing in 

 resourcefvd and dangerous North America. The annual 

 slaughter by wild beasts in Hindustan and British Burma is a 

 fairly good index of the courage and aggressiveness of the 

 parties of the first part. In India during the year 1878, in 

 which we were specially interested, the totals were as follows: 



Persons killed by elephants, S3\ tigers, 816; leopards, 300; 

 bears, 94; wolves, 845; hyenas, 33; snakes, 16,812. 



Of course such slaughter as this by the ridiculous hyenas and 

 the absurd sloth bears of India is possible only in a country 

 wherein the swarming millions of people are universally de- 

 fenseless, and children are superabundant. 



As a corollary to the above figures, a comparison of them 

 with the roste* of wild animals killed and paid for is of some 

 interest. The dangerous beasts destroyed were as follows : 



