“When the Wolf is hungry, everything is game that comes to his net. In the Gulf of Bothnia he often preys upon Seals. When that sea is frozen over, or partially so, as is generally the case soon after the turn of the year, he roams its icy surface in search of the young of the Gray Seal, which at that season breeds among the hummocks in great numbers; and finding this an easy way of procuring sustenance, he remains on the ice until it breaks up in the spring. It not unfrequently happens, however, that during storms large fields of ice, on which numbers of Wolves are congregated, break loose from the shore or the land-ice; in this case, as soon as the beasts perceive their danger, but see no possibility of escape, they rush to and fro, keeping up the while a most woeful howling, heard frequently at a great distance until they are swallowed up by the waves.” The vision and hearing, but more particularly the sense of smell in the Wolf, are very fully developed. These faculties are of great service in enabling it to obtain food and avoid danger. When suffering from hunger it loses all caution, and becomes a scourge to the farmers’ flocks and a source of danger even to Man. In broad daylight, under such circumstances, without being seen, it will draw near a flock of Sheep, eluding the vigilance of the dogs, it will dart forward, seize a victim that it has singled out, and bear it off with such velocity as often to defy pursuit. This exploit accomplished, it returns time after time to the scene of its previous success, until destroyed or driven from the neighborhood. When it succeeds in obtaining entrance to a sheepfold, the havoc it commits is fearful, for it makes a general massacre among the inmates. The slaughter terminated, it carries away a victim for immediate use. It afterwards takes a second, third, and fourth, which it conceals in different places in the neighboring woods. Nor does it return to its retreat until daybreak, devoting the last moments to secreting its booty. This craving for slaughter, preceding the act of hiding the carcasses, rather denotes foresight than ferocity; the Wolf is not, therefore, the monster of cruelty pictured by Buffon.