The Dog Family 



87 



Colonel Theodore Roosevelt t^ives an interesting account of \v()lf-c(iursiiiL,r in Rnssia, in an 

 article contributed to " The Encyclopu'dia of S^ioit " '( r.awn^nce .^ l',n\Uni). '• In Russia the sport 

 IS a science," he writes. "The princes and great landowners who take part in it have their 

 hunting-e(piipages equipped perfectly to the smallest detail. Not only do they follow wolves 

 in the open, but they capture them aii.l let thenr out before dogs,' like hares in a closed 

 coursing-meeting. The huntsman follows his hounds on horseback. ('Ihese hounds are the 

 Eorzoi, white giant greyhounds, now often seen in England) Those in ]{ussia show signs of 

 reversion to the ty^.e of the Irish wolf-liound, dogs weighing somelhing like lt)0 lbs., of 

 remarkalile power, and of reckless and sa\age temper. Xow three or four dogs are run togetlier. 

 They are not expected to kill the w.ilf, but merely to hold him. . . . Tlie Borzois can readily 



tholii Ijii Olio, 



[Berlin. 



'■THK WOLF WITH PRnv r.lW. 



The iihotogi-apli shows adrniralily the .slioking g.iit and lung stride of the ^^■ole, 



overtake and master partly grown wolves, but a full-grown dog-wolf, in good trim, will usually 

 gallop away from them." 



A number of these Borzoi dogs have been imported into America, and are used to course 

 wolves in the Western States. But there professional wolf-hunters are emiJoyed to kill off the 

 creatures near the ranches. One such hunter lives near Colonel Roosevelt's ranclie on the 

 Little Missouri. His pack of large dogs will tear in pieces the biggest wolf without aid fi^iur 

 the huntei'. (_)f his own efforts in wolf-coursing lie writes : '' W^e generally started for the 

 hunting-ground very early, riding across the open country in a widely spread line of dogs 

 and men. If we put up a wolf, we simply went at him as hard as we knew how. Young 

 wolves, or those which had not attained their full strength, were readily overtaken, and the 

 pack would handle a she-wolf cjuite readily. A big dog-wolf, or even a full-grown and powerful 

 she-wolf, offered an altogether different problem. Frequently we came upon one after it had 



