86 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
from Moscow twenty-four 
French soldiers, with their 
arms in their hands, were 
attacked, killed, and eaten by 
a pack of wolves. 
From very early times 
special breeds of dogs have 
been trained to guard sheep 
against the attacks of wolves. 
Some of these were intended 
to defend the flock on the 
spot, others to run down the 
wolves in the open. The 
former are naturally bred 
to be very large and heavy; 
the latter, though they must 
be strong, are light and 
speedy. Of the dogs which 
guard the flocks several races 
still survive. Among the most 
RUSSIAN WOLF celebrated are those of Al- 
This & @ most charasizrisie prs.ograph of one of the soncattea *¢ greyhound wolves”? of the bania and the mountainous 
eet ee parts of Turkey, and the 
wolf-dogs of Tibet, generally called Tibetan Bloodhounds. The Tartar shepherds on the 
steppes near the Caucasus also keep a very large and ferocious breed of dog. All these are 
of the mastiff type, but have long, thick hair. When the shepherds of Albania or Mount 
Rhodope are driving their flocks along the mountains to the summer pastures, they sometimes 
travel a distance of 200 miles. During this march the dogs act as flankers and scouts by day 
and night, and do battle with the wolves, which know quite well the routes along which the 
sheep usually pass, and are on the lookout to pick up stragglers or raid the flock. The Spanish 
shepherds employ a large white shaggy breed of dog as guards against wolves. These dogs 
both lead the sheep and bring up the rear in the annual migration of, the flocks to and from 
the summer pastures. 
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt says of hunting wolves: “In Russia the sport is a science. 
The princes and great landowners who take part in it have their hunting-equipages equipped 
perfectly to the smallest detail. Not only do they follow wolves in the open, but they capture 
them and let them out before dogs, like hares in a closed coursing-meeting. The huntsman 
follows his hounds on horseback. (These hounds are the Borzoi, white giant greyhounds, now 
often seen in England.) Those in Russia show signs of reversion to the type of the Irish 
wolf-hound, dogs weighing something like 100 Ibs., of remarkable power, and of reckless and 
savage temper. Now three or four dogs are run together. They are not expected to kill the 
wolf, but merely to hold him. . . . The Borzois can readily overtake and master partly 
grown wolves, but a full-grown dog-wolf, in good trim, will usually gallop away from them.” 
Wolf cubs are born in April or May. The litter is from four to nine. There was one of 
six a few years ago at the Zoological Gardens at The Hague, pretty little creatures like collie 
puppies, but quarrelsome and rough even in their play. When born, they were covered with 
reddish-white down; later the coat became woolly and dark. 
The European wolf’s method of hunting when in chase of deer is by steady pursuit. Its 
speed is such and its endurance so great that it can overtake any animal. But there is no doubt 
that the favourite food of the wolf is mutton, which it can always obtain without risk on the wild 
mountains of the Near East, if once the guardian dogs are avoided. M. Tschudi, the naturalist 
a pte rane no 
Pirate by F. W- BeLellony 
