The Western World: Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North; and South AmericaKingston, William Henry Giles
History
The Western World: Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North; and South America
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Natural history -- North America; Natural history -- South America
the bear, scarcely any meat was found on his bones, showing that it was
in a fit of hungry desperation that he had thus made one of the boldest
attempts at kidnapping over heard of in the legends of ursine courage.
WOLVES.
There are several species of wolves in North America: one, a large,
black animal, which inhabits the forests; and another, much smaller,
which hunts the bison and deer in vast packs across the prairie, and is
called the prairie-wolf. Like the wolf of Europe, the black wolf is a
fierce, dangerous creature, and equally cowardly. When driven into the
corner of a hut, as has sometimes occurred, or when caught in a trap, he
will not attempt to defend himself against any person who may enter to
destroy him. Audubon mentions an instance of this. A farmer with whom
he was staying having lost a number of his animals by wolves, dug
several pitfalls in the neighbourhood of his farm. Three large wolves
were found in the morning in one of these traps. The farmer, instead of
shooting them from above, boldly descended into the trap, and seizing
the creatures one by one by the hind-legs, severed the chief tendon,
thus preventing their escaping. He afterwards killed and skinned them
at his leisure, their skins being of sufficient value to repay him for
the loss of his cattle.
The prairie-wolves are considerably smaller than their brethren of the
woods. They travel in large packs, a solitary one being seldom seen.
Their skins are of no value. The Indians will not waste their powder
upon them, and they therefore multiply so greatly, that some parts of
the country are completely overrun by them. They are, however, caught
by; pitfalls covered over with switches baited with meat. They destroy
a great number of horses, particularly in the winter season, when the
latter get entangled in the snow. In this situation, two or three
wolves will often fasten on one animal, and speedily, with their long
claws, tear it to pieces. The horses, however, often bravely defend
themselves; and Mr Goss mentions finding near the bodies of two of
these animals, which had been killed the night before, eight wolves
lying dead and maimed around,--some with their brains scattered, and
others with their legs or ribs broken.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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