m 
WOLF. 
four or live days without food., provided he be sup- 
plied with water. 
The wolf lias great strengths particularly in his 
fore parts, in the muscles of his neck and jaws. 
He carries off a sheep in his mouth without letting 
it touch the ground, and runs with it much swifter 
* than the shepherds who pursue him ; so that 
nothing but the dogs can overtake, and oblige him 
to quit his prey. He bites cruelly, and always 
with greater vehemence in proportion as he is least 
resisted ; for he uses precautions with such ani- 
mals as attempt to stand upon the defensive. He 
is ever cowardly, and never lights but when under 
a necessity of satisfying hunger, or making good 
his~retreat. When he is wounded by a bullet, 
he is heard to cry out ; and yet, when surrounded 
by the peasants, and attacked with clubs, he never 
howls as the dog under correction, but defends 
himself in silence, and dies as hard as he lived. 
His nature is, in fact, more savage than that of 
the dog ; he has less sensibility and greater 
strength. He travels, runs, and keeps plundering 
for whole days and nights together. He is in a 
manner indefatigable ; and perhaps of all animals* 
he is most difficult to be hunted down. The dog 
is good natured and courageous ; the wolf, though 
savage, is ever fearful. If he happens to be 
caught in a pit-fal, he is for some time so fright- 
ened and astonished, that he may be killed with- 
out offering to resist, or taken alive without 
much danger. At that instant, one may clap 
a collar round his neck, muzzle him, and drag 
him along, without his ever giving the least signs 
of anger or resentment. At all other times he has 
his senses in great perfection ; liis eye, his ear, 
and particularly his sense of smelling, which is 
even superior to the two former. He smells a 
carcase at more than a league’s distance; he also 
