THE WOLF. 119 



smaUer, and of a browner colour. There is the small brownish 

 grey wolf of the Alps, and the large, long-haired wolf of Russia; 

 m Italy and Turkey they are of a more tawny colour. White 

 wolves are sometimes seen in southern countries, but in the arctic 

 regions they frequently become white in winter. The most noted 

 variety existing in Europe are the black wolves, large and strong 

 animals, frequenting Spain and the Pyrenees, where they often 

 attack the strings of mules that travel through the passes. 



Wolves are still very plentiful in some parts of Europe, in 

 Russia especially, where the returns annually submitted to the 

 Imperial Government show that they inflict a large amount of 

 injury. In one year alone, within a limited district of about 20,000 

 square miles, they destroyed 1800 horses, nearly 16,000 sheep, 

 over 1700 oxen, and large numbers of calves, lambs, goats, kids, 

 swine, pigs, dogs, geese, and fowl. The report for 1877 stated""! 

 that the whole country contained 200,000 wolves. In 1875 they 

 killed 161 people, in addition to 108,000 cattle, in European 

 Russia alone, besides poultry and dogs, the former being the diet 

 preferred by the young wolves. The loss is estimated at 

 15,000,000 roubles or 2,50O,O00Z. per annum. In Siberia it must 

 also be very considerable, especially in reindeer, for large numbers 

 of these animals fall victims to the voracious appetite of the 

 wolves. 



In a Russian pamphlet published at St. Petersburg, as an 

 appendix to the Government official report, a comparison is in- 

 stituted between the losses occasioned by cattle plagues and fires, 

 and against those caused by wolves. Extraordinary as it may 

 seem, the proportion of damage done by wolves as compared with 

 cattle plagues is as 200 to 240, and it must be further taken into 

 consideration that, while the epidemic may leave the peasant the 

 skin of his cow, the wolf carries away his prey irreclaimably. The 

 damage is naturally looked upon as a serious national calamity. 

 " Their strength is very great, and the amount they will eat is 

 enorlnous. In two or three hours, it is stated, a pair will eat half 

 a horse weighing 350 kilogs, they themselves not weighing more 

 than 50 kilogs." ^ 



2 See The Times, 1876. 



