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and its ravages have caused its existence to be placed on record 
after the English Conquest. Dr. Scouler has collected nearly 
all the notices on the point (Journ. G-eol. Soc. Dub., vol. i. 
p. 225). “ Great numbers of wolves formerly existed in Ire- 
land, and they maintained their ground in this country for a 
longer period than in any other part of the empire. Campion, 
whose history of Ireland was published in 1570, informs us 
that wolves were objects of the chase. ‘They (the Irish) are 
not,’ he says, ‘ without wolves, or greyhounds to hunt them, 
bigger of bone and limme than a colt.’ A century later they 
appear to have been equally abundant, for we find by the 
journals of the House of Commons that, in 1662, Sir John 
Ponsonby reported from the Committee of Grievances that a 
Bill should be brought in to encourage the killing of wolves 
and foxes. Effective measures for this purpose appear to have 
been taken, and the wolf was at last extirpated about the year 
1710. Dr. Smith, in his ‘History of Kerry,’ when speaking 
of certain ancient enclosures, observes that many of them were 
made to secure cattle from wolves, which animals were not 
finally extirpated till the year 1710, as I find by presentments 
for raising money for destroying them in some old grand jury 
hooks.” 
According to Mr. Thompson,* three Wolf-hills in Ireland 
claim their name from the killing of the last wolf — “ one in the 
south, another near Gflenarm, and the third three miles from 
Belfast.” 
The mischief done by these destructive creatures may be 
estimated by the various orders relating to them, which have 
been extracted from the Council Books preserved in Dublin by 
Mr. Hardiman.f In 1652 the export of “wolfe dogges” was 
declared to he illegal by Cromwell’s government, “ because the 
wolves doe much increase and destroy many cattle.” In the 
following year, also, in the preamble of a “ Declaration touch- 
ing^ the Poore,” it is stated that “ Many times poore children, 
who lost their parents or deserted by them, are found ex- 
posed to, some of them fed upon, by ravening wolves and other 
beasts and birds of prey.” This increase of the wolves is 
directly traceable to the devastated condition of Ireland after 
the rebellion had been ruthlessly stamped out by Cromwell. 
In France the wolves have already taken advantage of the 
desolate state of the country after the war to find their way to 
the battle-fields near Amiens. In the same year there is a 
third declaration ordering the destruction of wolves, to which 
* “ Nat. Hist, of Ireland,” vol. iv. p. 34. 
f “A Chorographical Description of West Connaught,” by Koderic 
O’Flaherty, edit. Janies Hardiman, Dublin. Note D, p. 180. 
