[Illustration: _Photo by J. W. McLellan_] [_Highbury._
This is a most characteristic photograph of one of the so-called "greyhound wolves" of the Russian forests.]
Wolf cubs are born in April or May. The litter is from four to nine. There was one of six a few years ago at the Zoological Gardens at the Hague, pretty little creatures like collie puppies, but quarrelsome and rough even in their play. When born, they were covered with reddish-white down; later the coat became woolly and dark.
The European wolf's method of hunting when in chase of deer is by steady pursuit. Its speed is such and its endurance so great that it can overtake any animal. But there is no doubt that the favourite food of the wolf is mutton, which it can always obtain without risk on the wild mountains of the Near East, if once the guardian dogs are avoided. M. Tschudi, the naturalist of the Alps, gives a curious account of the assemblage of wolves in Switzerland in 1799. They had, as is mentioned above, followed the armies from Russia. Having tasted human flesh, they preferred it to all other, and even dug up the corpses. The Austrian, French, and Russian troops penetrated in 1799 into the highest mountain valleys of Switzerland, and fought sanguinary battles there. Hundreds of corpses were left on the mountains and in the forests, which acted as bait to the wolves, which were not destroyed for some years.
Wolves will interbreed with dogs readily, which the red fox will not. The progeny do not bark, but howl. The Eskimo cross their dogs with wolves to give them strength.
Besides the large grey wolf, a smaller and less formidable animal is common on the prairies and mountains of the northern half of the continent of America. This is the Coyote. It takes the place of the hyæna as a scavenger, but has some of the habits of the fox. It catches birds and buck-rabbits, and feeds on insects, as well as small rodents like prairie-dogs and mice. Its melancholy howls make night hideous on the northern prairies, and it is the steady foe of all young creatures, such as the fawns of prong-horned antelope and deer. Its skin, like that of most northern carnivora, is thick and valuable for fur wraps. The coyotes assemble in packs like jackals.