WOLF DAYS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 69 



his farm and stock to a man by the name of C. P. Rice, 

 the stock being ten or twelve head of cattle and about 

 forty sheep, giving Rice possession April 1, 1868. 

 About the 20th of May two wolves came in and killed 

 fourteen sheep for Mr. Rice in one night, and fifteen 

 days later they came back and killed fourteen more, 

 making a loss of twenty-eight sheep. Besides this loss, 

 Mr. Rice lost about one dozen of the orphan lambs, 

 making his total loss about forty sheep and lambs. In 

 1869, about the 10th of May, wolves came in and 

 killed eleven sheep for C. A. Burdick in a single night. 

 Mr. Burdick's farm adjoined my father's farm on the 

 West side. Five days later the wolves came back and 

 killed the two that they did not get the first night. 

 Mr. Burdick had thirteen ewes and none of them had 

 dropped their lambs yet, so the only way to estimate 

 his loss would be to say he lost all he had. Every 

 farmer that kept sheep had to contribute to "Mr. 

 Wolf." Wolves were very cunning when they killed a 

 farmer's 'sheep. They would not return to get another 

 meal of the dead sheep, but would make a raid on 

 the live ones. It seemed to be their delight to kill as 

 long as they could find anything to kill. And it looks 

 as if they were afraid to return to the dead animal for 

 fear of getting their toes pinched. This cunning trait 

 of theirs made it extremely difficult to trap them. 

 Nevertheless, from 1865 until the last one was killed 

 we waged a relentless war on them. The winter of 1874- 

 75 was a hummer. The snow was very deep and the 

 mercury went from 30 to 38 degrees below zero many 



