190 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



In order to judge correctly of the domestic Dog 

 and his numberless varieties, it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to become acquainted first with his relatives in 

 the wild state, the Wolves, among which we must 

 look for his progenitors. It also seems but logical 

 to consider the wild Dogs before we turn to the 

 domestic varieties. The former teach us what the 

 Dog originally was before he became the property 

 of Man; in them we see the aboriginal animal, while 

 the tamed Dog represents the changed, or if I may 

 term him such, the hu-ma«i«ed animal. 



THE WOLVES PROPER. 



The sub-order of Wolves proper {Lupus) comprises 

 all Wolf-like Dogs except the Hyaena- Dog; they 

 have forty-two teeth, and show a great variety in 

 their external appearance, though the head is al- 

 ways moderately large and the snout rather pointed. 



takes on a yellowish hue ; in northern countries it is 

 of a whiter, and in southern regions of a blacker tint. 

 The forehead is whitish gray, the snout yellowish gray, 

 but always mixed with black; the lips are whitish, the 

 cheeks yellowish and sometimes indistinctly striped 

 with black ; the dense woolly under-fur is dull gray. 



Here and there one may meet a black Wolf, which 

 as well as some other modified species is only a 

 variety. Wolves inhabiting mountains are in general 

 large and strong, while the Wolves, of -the plains are 

 most perceptibly smaller and-weaker, bnt by no-means 

 less aggressive or bloodthirsty than their mountain 

 relatives. In Hungary and Galicia a distinction is 

 generally recognized between the Wolf of the forest 

 and the Wolf of the plain. 



An adult Wolf attains a length of sixty-four inches, 

 about twenty of which are taken up by the tail ; the 

 height at the shoulder is about thirty-four inches. A 



THE JACKAL WOLF. This is a species of Wolf found in Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia and the Soudan and called " Abuel Hossein" by 



the Arabs. It has a stout body on slender legs, pointed snout, and a general appearance of strength and agility. While generally attacking 

 only smaller animals, the Wolves sometimes hunt in packs, and several of them are often found together, as in the picture. (Canis anihus.) 



The Wolf the The Wolf {Cards lupus or Lupus vulgaris) 

 Most Common has much the shape of a large, long- 

 Species. legged, lean Dog which lets its tail 

 hang down instead of curling it upward. A close 

 inspection shows the following characteristics: the 

 body is lean, waist retracted; the legs correspond to 

 this bodily structure; the long-haired tail reaches the 

 ankle-joint ; the snout appears long and pointed in 

 comparison with the thick head; the forehead is slop- 

 ing; the eyes have a slanting position and the ears 

 are always erect. The fur is subject to changes both 

 in density and color, according to the country the 

 Wolf inhabits. In the northern regions, the hair is 

 long, rough and dense, longest on the under surface 

 of the body and the thighs, bushy on the tail, dense 

 and erect on the neck and sides ; in southern coun- 

 tries it is on the whole shorter and rougher. The 

 color is usually a dull, grayish yellow with an admix- 

 ture of black; it is lighter, often assuming a whitish 

 gray tint, on. the under surface. In summer the gen- 

 eral color has more of a reddish tinge, in winter it 



large specimen may weigh eighty or even one hun- 

 dred pounds. The female differs from the male by 

 being of a slighter build, and having a more pointed 

 nose and a thinner tail. 

 Wide Range The Wolf is Still spread over a wide 

 Inhabited by area, though his territory has been much 

 the Wolf, restricted in comparison with former 

 times. He is found throughout nearly the whole of 

 Europe, though he has disappeared from the most 

 densely populated parts of this continent. He is 

 extensively distributed in Spain, being found in all 

 the mountainous sections and even on the larger 

 plains;. he is common enough in Greece, Italy and 

 France, more rare in Switzerland, and is extinct in 

 middle and northern Germany and Great Britain. 

 He is common in ea.stern Europe. The countries in 

 which he is most abundant are Hungary, Galicia, 

 Croatia, Craniola, Servia, Bosnia, the country of the 

 Danube, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Lap- 

 land. He has never been found on Iceland and the 

 islands of the Mediterranean, but he seems to exist 



