CANTS LUPUS. 



43 



The amount of noise that a single Wolf is capable of producing" is 

 simply astonishing, and many amusing episodes of camp lore owe 

 their origin to this fact. More than one "lone traveller" has hastily 

 taken to a tree, and remained in the inhospitable shelter of its scrawny 

 branches for an entire night, believing himself surrounded by a pack 

 of at least fifty fierce and hungry Wolves, when, in reality, there was 

 but one, and (as its tracks afterwards proved) it was on the farther 

 side of a lake, a couple of miles away. 



The Wolf is one of the most cowardly and wary of our mammals, 

 always taking good care to keep out of sight ; and he is so crafty and 

 sagacious that it is almost impossible to allure him into any kind of 

 a trap. 



When opportunity affords he is one of the most destructive and 

 wasteful of brutes, always killing as much game as possible, regard- 

 less of the condition of his appetite, and he used to be the greatest 

 enemy that our deer had to contend with. During the deep snows 

 a small pack of Wolves would sometimes kill hundreds of deer, tak- 

 ing here and there a bite, but leaving the greater number untouched. 



In the year 1871 the State put a bounty'-' on their scalps, and it is 

 a most singular coincidence that a great and sudden decrease in their 

 numbers took place about that time. What became of them is a great 

 and, to me, inexplicable mystery, for it is known that but few were 

 killed. There is but one direction in which they could have es- 

 caped, <and that is through Clinton County into Lower Canada. In 

 so doing they would have been obliged to pass around the north end 

 of Lake Champlain and cross the River Richelieu, and before reach- 

 ing any extensive forests would have had to travel long distances 

 through tolerably well-setded portions of country. And there is no 

 evidence that they made any such journey. 



The Wolf makes its nest in rocky caverns, under the upturned 

 roots of fallen trees, and in hollow logs ; and where suitable shelter 



* The laiv |:[raiUing this l)ouiity has already been given in a foot note under the Panther. See 

 pp. 29-30. 



