THE WOLF. 87

to make his lair in com-fields, in close proximity to inhabi-
tated dwellings. Here he lives with his wife and family,
usually cache during the day, and issuing forth at night to
take his prey. During the warmer periods of the year wolves,
as a rule, hunt each one for himself, but in winter they often
unite into great packs, and pursue their prey over the snow
at a rapid pace and with indomitable perseverance. Swift
and untiring must be the animal which, on an open plain,
can escape from them; even the horse, perfectly constructed
as he is for rapid running, is almost certain to succumb,
unless he can reach a village before his pace begins to flag.
They never spring upon an animal from an ambush—the
nearest approach ever made to such a mode of attack being
their practice of attacking sheepfolds by leaping into the
midst of the flock and killing right and left; when they
reach their prey, too, the first onslaught is made with their
teeth, and never by a blow of the paw. Thus, a wolf’s
attack—like that of all members of the genus Canis—is
entirely different from a cat’s. The cat lies in ambush all
alone, springs upon the passing prey, which if he misses he
scarcely ever pursues, and kills by a blow of the paw. The
dog and wolf attack openly, sometimes alone, but oftener in
company, pursue their prey with unflagging energy until it
falls a victim, and give the death-wound at once with their
teeth.”
The Wolfs That the wolf sometimes employs cunning as
Cunning well as savagery in seeking his prey is shown by
the following story from “Broke’s Travels in the North of
Sweden”: “I observed, on setting out from Sormjole, the last
post, that the peasant who drove my sledge was armed with
a cutlass; and, on inquiring the reason, was told that, the
day preceding, while he was passing in his sledge the part
of the forest we were then in, he had encountered a wolf,
which was so-daring, that it actually sprang over the hinder
part of the sledge he was driving, and attempted to carry off