Canids. MAMMALIA. Canid.®. 107 
to attack the wretched wanderers. The little resist- 
ance they experienced in their depredations on these 
unfortunate ci’eatures, emboldened them in an astonish- 
ing manner, and taught them to look with contempt 
and defiance towards a race, of whose powers they had 
heretofore been in awe. Such numbers, however, suc- 
ceeded in finding their way to the cantonments, that 
we were to all intents in a state of siege. The wolves 
followed, and were to be seen in all dii'ections commit- 
ting havoc among the dying crowd.” Here we have 
indeed a sad picture ; tor the very loss of food these 
animals experienced by the general scarcity of other 
creatures, was more than amply compensated to them by 
the abundance of perishing men, women, and children. 
For the latter, indeed, the Wolf has a remarkable pro- 
pensity at all times. The same writer declares that 
“ his favourite object is a child at the breast, which, 
when opportunity serves, he seizes by the throat, there- 
by not only preventing it from giving the alarm by its 
cries, but taking a hold such as enables him to bear 
away his prize without impeding his progress.” Very 
few children, even if timely rescued, survive this 
trenchant grip. On another occasion two wolves 
gained access to a bungalow near Cawnpore, where 
they seized a lad thirteen years old, precisely in the 
same manner; death having ensued, they were in the 
act of ingeniously raising the body over a w’all, when 
the fall of a tile aroused the sleeping parents, who 
hurried to the spot, from whence the brutes scampered ott 
leaving the victim of their cunning a ghastly spectacle. 
About this time the wolves in the northern districts 
became so familiarized with man, by what had happened 
during the famine, that they very frequently attacked 
adults and even armed persons. Ordinarily, however, 
as we have before remarked, the Wolf is a great coward. 
Sir John Richardson testifies to the same behaviour in 
the case of the American wolf, which is probably a 
mere variety of the common grey species. He states 
that if these wolves were not as fearful as they are 
rapacious, the American buffalo-hunters would be 
unable to preserve their game. “ The simple precau- 
tion of tying a handkerchief to a branch, or of blowing 
up a bladder, and hanging it so as to wave in the wind, 
is sufficient to keep herds of wolves at a distance.” 
Sir John Richardson also mentions an instance where 
a poor Indian woman was killed by a vmlf, within sight 
of her husband, who was coming to rescue her; and it 
is particularly worthy of notice, that in this instance 
the neck was the part of the body seized. In the 
higher northern latitudes many wolves perish during 
the cold season from inanition ; and in some cases, 
when the winter has been unusually severe and pro- 
longed, they perish by hundreds. Some voyagers tell 
us that they Iiave both seen and heard the ]ioor animals 
— for under these circumstances we feel inclined to pity 
them — howling painfully as they lay stretched and 
famishing on blocks of ice. To these they have resorted 
in the hope of catching seals and other marine animals, 
and while thus employed, the ice-fields have become 
detached and have drifted away into the open sea. 
The Wolf, like the fox, forms burrows or earths ; into 
these they retreat during the day, and likewise occupy 
them for the special purpose of rearing their young. 
The number of cubs produced at a birth seems liable 
to vary, there being usually four or five ; but in the 
case of the American variety. Sir John Richardson 
states that eight or nine are sometimes the result of a 
single litter. A very efiectual manner of extirpating 
wolves is by smoking them out of their earths. This 
plan, adopted in India, is extremely simple. All that 
is necessary, is to be provided with a quantity of sticks, 
straw, and lucifer matches, and a few pounds of brim- 
stone. There are generally several outlets to each 
earth ; but it is not necessary to make a fire before 
many of these, especially if the party be well provided 
with fire-arms. Usually it is not considered desirable 
to give any of them the slightest chance of escape ; but, 
under any circumstances, it is advisable to fire the lower 
holes, so as to allow of the fumes being drawn in by a 
strong current of air. The death of the savage tenant 
is usually very painful, and long before he comes to the 
surface, his commencing distress and agony is indicated 
by a painful moaning. Sometimes they rush out; but 
being more' or less stupified by the fumes, they seldom 
make their escape. If they avoid the spears and clubs 
of the natives, who are anxiously watching outside, the 
gun, rifle, or arrow, more surely effects the purpose of 
their destruction. In the foregoing remarks we have 
repeatedly had occasion to point out instances of the cun- 
ning and ingenuity of the AVolf ; but we cannot entirely 
quit our account of this animal without quoting another 
interesting illustration of its craftiness. Mr. Lloyd, in 
his “ Scandinavian Adventures,” thus writes: — “At one 
time, indeed, I had serious thoughts of training a fine 
female wolf in my possession as a pointer ; but I was 
deterred, owing to the penchant she exhibited for the 
neighbours’ pigs. She was chained in a little inclo- 
sure, just in front of my window, into which those 
animals, when the gate happened to be left open, ordi- 
narily found their way. The devices the wolf employed 
to get them in her power were very amusing. When 
she saw a pig in the vicinity of her kennel, she, evi- 
dently with the purpose of putting him oft' his guard, 
would throw herself on her side or back, wag her tail 
most lovinglj', and look innocence personified. And 
this amiable demeanour would continue until the grunter 
was beguiled within the length of her tetlier, when, in 
the twinkling of an eye, the prey rvas clutched.” Whilst 
she w’as young she contented herself with the tail ; but 
after she had realized her full powers, the unsuspect- 
ing swine were snapped up bodily, and, on such occa- 
sions, Mr. Lloyd found it a difficult matter to rescue 
them from her jaws. 
THE RED WOLF {Cams jubata ). — This is a well- 
marked form, inhabiting the marshy districts of South 
America. The fur has a fine cinnamon-red colour, 
which imparts to the species a veiy attractive appear- 
ance. The terminal moiety of the tail is white, and 
there is also a white spot under the head. The Red wolf 
is further distinguished by a short black mane, commen- 
cing at the occiput, and proceeding downwards along 
the middle line of the back. According to D’Azara, as 
quoted by Ogilby, these animals “do not commit havoc 
on the herds or smaller flocks ; and as they inhabit 
only the extensive lowlands and marshes of Paraguay 
I as far as the river Plata, and near its mouth, he has no 
