FEBRUARY. 39 
or going in a circle. The men put a rope round her^ and 
led her to the town. In the woods they found her den^, 
strewed with a vast number of deer s bones^ fragments of 
flesh;, &c. all around which^ the snow^ though three feet deep^ 
was trodden hard and smooth^ and from the number of paths 
leading to this spot^ it appeared evident that this aged wolf 
had for a long time been supplied with prey by the assiduous 
attentions of others. 
C, — This story raises the wolf in my estimation : I had 
always had a very bad opinion of his moral character. 
F, — All carnivorous animals are on a par in this respect : 
it is absurd to say that any animal is fierce without pro- 
vocation^ and cruel without necessity or that it scarcely 
finds time to appease its appetite^, while intent upon satisfy- 
ing the malignity of its nature.'* Their thirst for blood is 
an irresistible instinct implanted in them by an allwise 
Godj and the tiger or the wolf could no more exist without 
slaughter^ than the sheep without cropping the herbage. 
That they often kill without devouring the carcasses^ is not 
by any means the effect of a blind and aimless ferocity^ but 
a proof that to their palates the blood is the most agreeable 
part of their victim ; and of course it is ridiculous to expect 
that they should manifest any moral scruples of indulging 
their appetite^ whenever they have the power or opportunity. 
Some are more sluggish, or more timid, or less desirous of 
blood than others, but surely no praise is due to them for 
superior virtue. 
C. — Is the wolf the most formidable of our beasts of 
prey ? 
F. — I suppose he may be esteemed such ; though there 
is reason to believe that a much nobler animal, the Couguar, 
or Puma, has, formerly at least, been seen in this province. 
I have heard both Nathan and Amos Merrill speak of a 
large cat, which was killed in the township of Bolton, about 
