194 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



young of the same litter may differ among them- 

 selves. As a rule they are most wolf-like, though 

 there may be some which more resemble the Dog. 

 Taming of Wglves taken young and properly 

 the Wolf not treated become very tame and very 

 Difficult. much attached to their master. Cuvier 

 tells us of a Wolf, which had been brought up like a 

 young Dog and at full growth was donated to the 

 Jardin des Plantes. "There he showed himself very 

 dejected for a few weeks, ate very little and mani- 

 fested utter indifference towards his keeper. Finally 

 he conceived some affection for those who were eni- 

 ployed about him, and seemed to have forgotten his 

 former master, but when the latter returned to Paris, 

 after an absence of eighteen months, the Wolf heard 

 his voice in spite of the noisy crowd, and being set 

 free, signified his joy most demonstratively." 



The North Ameri- 

 can Wolf 

 and Its Habits. 



THE JACKAL. The comely shape of this impudent night'prowler of Asia is well shown here. The body 



is stout but not clumsy, the limbs are long, the muzzle is fox-like, and the tail is long and bushy. They are noc- 

 turnal in their habits and very audacious, invading, towns as well as plantations and carrying away everything edible 

 which they can get. They kill many rodents, but they also are insatiable chicken-thieves. Their bowlings make 

 night hideous in the Orient. {Cams aureus.) 



The Wolf is The Wolf is killed in every possible 

 Hunted manner; by the bullet, by insidious 

 With Zeal, poison, by the treacherous noose or 

 trap, by the club and any other obtainable weapon. 

 Most Wolves are probably killed by strychnine. 

 When food begins to be scarce in winter, a slain 

 Sheep is prepared in the following manner : The 

 animal is skinned and the poison sprinkled into lit- 

 tle incisions all over the body. Then the skin is put 

 on again and the bait is laid in a place known to be 

 frequented by Wolves. No Wolf eats his fill of an 

 animal poisoned in such a manner, as the poison 

 affects him very quickly and he succumbs to it at 

 once. This mode of extermination probably pro- 

 duces the surest results. Pitfalls are also success- 

 ful ; they are dug about three yards deep and two- 

 and-a-half yards in diameter, are covered with a 

 light roof of small, flexible boughs, moss, etc., and 

 the bait is fastened in the middle. To prevent the 

 "Wolf from making too close an investigation before- 



hand and also to protect people from falling in, the 

 pitfall is surrounded by a high fence, which any one 

 who desires to reach the prey has to clear at a bound. 

 In populous districts hunts are sometimes arranged 

 on a large scale. The finding of a Wolf's spoor was, 

 and still is, a signal for the rallying of whole parishes. 

 In the larger forest districts of Poland, Posen, east 

 Prussia, Lithuania, etc., wide strips have been cleared 

 in the forest, and then divided into smaller squares, 

 for the sole purpose of Wolf-hunting. 



The inhabitants of the Russian steppes hunt in a 

 different manner. They deem a gun an entirely 

 secondary feature of the chase; the Wolf is pursued 

 by hunters on horseback, until he can no longer run, 

 and is then slain. 



The greatest profit that the Wolf yields is his win- 

 ter fur, which, as is universally known, may be profit- 

 ably • used. The ^best ■ and 

 largest pelts are furnished 

 by Scandinavia, northern 

 Russia, Siberia and north- 

 ern China and are sold at 

 from ;?2.50 to g8 apiece. 

 Besides this, many gov- 

 ernments give a fixed pre- 

 mium for every Wolf that 

 is killed. 



The North 

 American 

 Wolf (Canis 

 occidentalis) 

 is a species closely allied to the 

 common Wolf, and the question 

 whether it is a distinct species 

 is still an open one. As a rule 

 it is a little smaller than the 

 European species, but the hab- 

 its of the two are very similar, 

 although the American Wolf is 

 not dangerous to Man except 

 when it is made desperate by 

 hunger. There are great vari- 

 eties in color among animals of 

 this species in America. Those 

 of a gray color similar to that 

 of the European Wolf are the 

 most common, and are distrib- 

 uted from the Gulf of Mexico 

 to the arctic latitudes and from 

 ocean to ocean, but in some of 

 the northwestern states-there 

 are white Wolves and in Texas 

 a variety is found with a reddish 

 fur. Black Wolves range in 

 Florida and some of the other 

 southeastern states and in the 

 lower Missouri Valley there are 

 some of a dusky drab color. The Wolf is much less numerous 

 in the greater part of the United States than formerly, but it is 

 still quite plentiful on the western plains and in many portions 

 of Canada. Packs of Wolves follow herds of Bisons and when 

 one of the herd becomes isolated they attack it, and although in 

 the combat which follows some of the pack are often killed the 

 Bison, if it happens to be sick or exhausted, frequently falls 

 a prey to the Wolves. Deer, Antelopes, Foxes, rodents and all 

 small mammals are attacked by Wolves, and those of their own 

 pack that are killed by Bisons are devoured by their compan- 

 ions. In general, what has been said of the European Wolf as 

 to habits, hunting and feeding, applies to the American Wolf. 



The Jackal Wolf, The Jackal Wolf, or the Abu el Hos- 

 an African sein of the Arabs [Ca/n's afitkus), is 

 Variety. ^ small, northeast African species, 

 known to the ancient Egyptians and pictured by 

 them on their monuments. His snout is pointed ; 

 the ears are large and broad ; the body, suppoi^ted by 

 long legs, is stout and of a dark tawny color, which 

 is subject to considerable variations, according to the 

 locality. Small animals, carrion and fruit form his 

 nutriment, but sometimes he joins others of his kind 



