90 BEAR. Class I. 



times we find that in Atkehtans reign wolves 

 abounded so in Yorkshire, that a retreat was 

 built at FlLvto?i in that county, to defend pas- 

 sengers fro?n the wolves, that they should not be 

 devoured by them : and such ravages did those 

 animals make during winter, particularly in 

 January when the cold was severest, that our 

 Saxon ancestors distinguished that month by the 

 title of wolf ' moneth* They also called an outlaw 

 Wolfshed, as being out of the protection of the 

 law, proscribed, and as liable to be killed as that 

 destructive beast. Et tunc gerunt caput lupi- 

 num, ita quod sine judiciali inquisitione rite 

 pereant. Bracton. lib. iii. Tr. 1 1 . c. 11. also 

 Knighton. QS56. 



Wolves infested Ireland many centuries after 

 their extinction in England, for there are ac- 

 counts of some having been found there as late as 

 the year 1710; the last presentment for killing 

 wolves being made in the county of Cork about 

 that timcf 

 Bear. The Bear, J another voracious beast, was 



once an inhabitant of this island, as appears 

 from different authorities. To begin with the 

 more antient, Martial informs us, that the Cale- 



* Verstegaiis Antiq. 5Q. 



f Smith's hist. Cork. II. 226. 



t Hist. quad. N. 208. v. 11. p. 1. Arctic Zoo!. 1. N. 20. 



