176 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



eastern coast of Sutherlandshire, says Scrope, was 

 attended with remarkable circumstances. 



" A man named Poison, of Wester Helmsdale, 

 accompanied by two lads, one of them his son and 

 the other an active herdboy, tracked a "Wolf to a 

 rocky mountain gully, which forms the channel of the 

 Burn of Sledale in Glen Loth. Here he discovered a 

 narrow fissure in the midst of large fragments of rock, 

 which led apparently to a larger opening or cavern 

 below, which the Wolf might use as his den. The 

 two lads contrived to squeeze themselves through 

 the fissure to examine the interior, whilst Poison 

 kept guard on the outside. 



" The boys descended through the narrow passage 

 into a small cavern, which was evidently a Wolf's den, 

 for the ground was covered with bones and horns of 

 animals, feathers, and eggshells, and the dark space 

 was somewhat enlivened by five or six active Wolf 

 cubs. Poison desired them to destroy these ; and soon 

 after he heard their feeble howling. Almost at the 

 same time, to his great horror, he saw approaching 

 him a full-grown Wolf, evidently the dam, raging 

 furiously at the cries of her young. As she attempted 

 to leap down, at one bound Poison instinctively threw 

 himself forward and succeeded in catching a firm hold 

 of the animal's long and bushy tail, just as the fore- 

 part of her body was within the narrow entrance of 

 the cavern. He had unluckily placed his gun against 

 a rock when aiding the boys in their descent, and 

 could not now reach it. Without apprising the lads 

 below of their imminent peril, the stout hunter kept 



