Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851.Various
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
It is curious to observe the cunning acquired by wolves in well
inhabited districts, where they are eagerly sought for destruction; they
then never quit cover to windward: they trot along just within the edges
of the wood until they meet the wind from the open country, and are
assured by their keen scent that no danger awaits them in that
quarter--then they advance, keeping under cover of hedgerows as much as
possible, moving in single file and treading in each other's track;
narrow roads they bound across, without leaving a footprint. When a wolf
contemplates a visit to a farmyard, he first carefully reconnoitres the
ground, listening, snuffing up the air, and smelling the earth; he then
springs over the threshold without touching it and seizes on his prey.
In retreat his head is low, turned obliquely, with one ear forward the
other back, and the eyes glaring. He trots crouching, his brush
obliterating the track of his feet till at some distance from the scene
of his depredation, then feeling himself secure, he waves his tail erect
in triumph, and boldly pushes on to cover.
In northern India, wolves together with jackals and pariah dogs, prowl
about the dwellings of Europeans. Colonel Hamilton Smith relates a
curious accident which befell a servant who was sleeping in a verandah
with his head near the outer lattice: a wolf thrust his jaws between the
bamboo, seized the man by the head, and endeavored to drag him through;
the man's shrieks awakened the whole neighborhood, and assistance came,
but though the wolf was struck at by many, he escaped. Wolves have even
been known to attack sentries when single, as in the last campaign of
the French armies in the vicinity of Vienna, when several of the
videttes were carried off by them. During the retreat of Napoleon's army
from Russia, wolves of the Siberian race followed the troops to the
borders of the Rhine; specimens of these wolves shot in the vicinity,
and easily distinguishable from the native breed, are still preserved in
the museums of Neuwied, Frankfort, and Cassel.
Captain Lyon[4] relates the following singular instance of the cunning
of a wolf which had been caught in a trap, and, being to all appearance
dead, was dragged on board ship: "The eyes, however, were observed to
wink whenever an object was placed near them, some precautions were,
therefore, considered necessary, and the legs being tied the animal was
hoisted up with his head downward. He then, to our surprise, made a
vigorous spring at those near him, and afterward repeatedly turned
himself upward so as to reach the rope by which he was suspended,
endeavoring to gnaw it asunder, and making angry snaps at the persons
who prevented him. Several heavy blows were struck on the back of his
neck, and a bayonet was thrust through him, yet above a quarter of an
hour elapsed before he died."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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