3224 Quadrupeds. 



reindeer to be seen over the doors, showed that they were the more 

 profitable as well as less dangerous victims of the huntsman's rifle ; 

 while here and there a wolf's grisly head told tales of an attack on the 

 sheep-fold : and here, in the Glommen, the long quaint head of the 

 elk reminded us that we were in their especial district. An intelligent 

 farmer in this valley assured me he had killed two of these scarce 

 animals within so many weeks ; and promised to show me some sport 

 if I would make a hunting expedition with him, an offer I was most 

 reluctant to decline ; but the day of my departure from the country 

 was at hand, and I was compelled to push on for Christiania. 



The elk prefers the forest for his abode, and seldom leaves it for the 

 open country. He is very timid, and consequently very difficult to 

 approach ; and he has the finest possible sense of hearing, seeing and 

 smelling, as indeed he might be expected to have, with ears and eyes 

 so large and nose so prominent : and away he goes, crashing along 

 through the trees of the forest in his enormous strength, and with his 

 large awkward body, the instant his acute ears or eyes or nose give 

 him warning that danger is at hand. 



The Wolf, [Cams Lupus). Strong, blood-thirsty, and cowardly 

 seem to be the characteristic epithets applied to the wolf. He is 

 rarely if ever seen in the summer, during which time he remains in the 

 depths of the boundless forests, or in the heart of the mountains : bul 

 when the snows and frosts of the long Scandinavian winter wrap eve- 

 rything in their icy mantle, the wolves too, becoming white or nearly 

 so, and rendered bold by starvation, band together in packs and ven- 

 ture to the homesteads of the peasants, and even into the very villa- 

 ges, in search of prey. During this season they are a great terror to 

 the farmer, and sometimes even to the traveller ; and many are the 

 fearful tales told of the pursuit of sledges for miles by a pack of 

 wolves ; and many the hair-breadth escapes ; and many, alas ! the 

 horrible deaths from these blood-thirsty and cruel marauders. One 

 means of escape recommended to the luckless traveller, should he be 

 so unfortunate as to be pursued by these savage beasts, is to trail a 

 long rope behind the sledge; and so innate is cowardice in the wolf, 

 that the oscillating movement of the rope, as it is dragged along 

 the ground, has been found sufficient to deter the whole pack from 

 venturing to approach the dreaded cord. Another effective means of 

 escape is to shoot the foremost of the pack ; for the wolves will inva- 

 riably stop in the midst of their chase to devour their dead, dying, or 

 wounded comrade, and the traveller takes advantage of this delay to 

 press forward to a place of safety. But unless near to some village or 



