102 WOLF DAYS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



in the heart of the Seven Mountains as late as 1870, 

 seemingly seeking to lure the dogs into the forests. 

 They howled nightly on the ridges north of the Decker 

 home. Elizabeth C. Wright, in that entertaining book, 

 "Lichen Tufts from the Alleghanies," published in 

 1860, speaks of stag's horns often becoming entangled 

 in dense thickets of "buck laurel {Kalmia latifolia)" 

 on Kinzua Run, and the deer being held there until 

 killed by wolves. In Sugar Valley, as previously 

 stated, a wolf's paw was a "good luck" sign, and when 

 no longer obtainable, bear's paws and even wild tur- 

 key's claws were nailed on the barns. A wolf's head 

 was considered even more lucky, and old-timers re- 

 member these talismans on barns along the highways 

 in Sugar Valley and Brush Valley. In Angelo de 

 Gubernatis' "Alythologie Zoologique," Volume II, 

 page 155, it is stated "En Sidle, on Croit qu'une tete 

 dc hup augmente le courage de celui qui s'en revet. 

 Dans la proznncc de Girgenti, on fait des souliers de 

 peau de loup aux enfants que les parents vculent 

 rendre forts, braves, ct helliqueux." Old settlers in 

 Sugar Valley state that Indian children passing 

 through the valley with their parents were similarly 

 equipped. J. W. Zimmerman, son of the famous 

 hunter, David A. Zimmerman, relates an interesting 

 incident connected with the last wolves in the East 

 End of Sugar \^alley. About 1847 the old Nimrod 

 destroyed a wolf's den in Green's Gap, consisting of a 

 she-wolf and a half dozen pups, but the dog-wolf es- 

 caped. One wintry night, after Zimmerman and his 



