HABITS OF WOLVES 
about. This northern wolf has an under fur of slate-gray not 
found in southerly examples, and is typically of a rufous or 
yellowish gray above, more or less grizzled, while the under 
parts are whitish, and the tail is often tipped with black. These 
hues are paler in northern than in southern specimens, and 
the latter are also inclined to be smaller; in many warm regions 
totally black races are known, and the black wolf of ‘Florida 
is considered by Merriam a distinct species; as also are the 
great pure white wolf of our Arctic coast and the wolf of 
Japan. In general the animal is a creature of wooded 
mountains, —a ‘‘timber” wolf. 
In summer a pair will retire to some cavern or convenient 
shelter, often dug by the mother herself, and there six to ten 
whelps are born, but usually only two or three survive to full 
age. At this season small game is numerous everywhere, 
and the animals, wandering about alone by day as well as by 
night, pick up a good living with little trouble, and grow fat, 
indolent, and cowardly, or at any rate peaceful. As the summer 
closes and the whelps grow the parents take them out with them 
and show them what is good to eat and how to hunt forit. With 
the onset of winter times become harder, the small creatures 
disappear, and then the wolves must arouse their strength and 
intelligence to outwit and overcome the larger animals, — the 
wild cattle, deer, antelopes, and the like upon which they prey. 
The peaceable disposition of summer changes as the snow 
fills the forests, the cold gales moan through the trees, and 
the long, dark nights enshroud an almost dead world, into hungry 
ferocity and a force of craft and caution born of the direst need, 
breeding a daring which at last makes the animal formidable 
to man himself. Much exaggeration has crept into the popular 
history of wolves, from the superstitious tales of old, which fill 
so many pages of Gubernatis’s*** curious books, to the stirring 
romances of ‘‘ Wolf” Seton; but basis enough remains to make 
it certain that travelers through the wintry wilderness of Canada 
189 
