1 86 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



animals probably perished in this way in their 

 attempts to escape from packs of pursuing Wolves. 



Giraldus Cambrensis, who lived in the reigns of 

 Henry II., Richard I., and John, and who visited 

 Ireland in 1183 and again in 1 185-6, when he 

 accompanied Prince John there, has left a curious 

 account of the wild animals then existing in Ireland, 

 amongst which is included the Wolf. He adds, " the 

 Wolves often have whelps in the month of December, 

 either in consequence of the great mildness of the 

 climate, or rather in token of the evils of treason 

 and rapine, which are rife here before their proper 

 season."* 



In the "Polychronicon" of Ranulphus Higden, the 

 monk of Chester, who died about 1360, we have a 

 later account of the Irish fauna, and in this also the 

 Wolf figures. Thus he says : — " Terra hcec magis 

 vaccis quam bobus, pascuis quam frugibus, gramine 

 quam grano fecunda. Abundat tamen salmonibus, 

 murcBnis, anguillis, et cceteris marinis piscibus ; aquilis 

 quoque, gruibus, pavonibus, coturnicibus, niso, falcone 

 et acciptre generoso. Lupos quoque habet, mures 

 nocentissimos ; sed et araneas, sanguisugas, et lacertas 

 habet innocuas. Mustelas quoque parvi corporis sed 

 valde animosas possidet.f This passage is thus 

 rendered by his translator, John Trevisa (a.d. 1357— 

 1387), and adopted by Caxton in his " Crony cles of 



* " Topographia Hibernise," lib. ii. cap. xxvi. p. 726, ed. Dimock, 

 vol. y. p. 112. And not only Wolves, but crows and owls are said to 

 have had young at Christmas. Op. cit., p. 112. 



t "Polychronicon Ranulphi Higicn, Monachi Costiensis," ed. 

 Babington (Master of the Rolls Series), vol. i. pp. 334, 335. 



