The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-04-23
THE WOLF AND ITS YOUNG.
HOW THE PARENT ANIMAL TRAINS
AND TEACHES ITS PUPS.
It is a Vegetarian and by No Means
a Coward-It is Partial TO Fish
Other Peculiarities.

| Inc male WOlI, says Navajo (leNaS)
correspondent of the New York Sun,
looks after the youngsters much longer
than the mother does. Before they are
half grown the mother begins to wean
them, and becomes somewhat harsh.
The pups must be taught to look out for
themselves, she thinks. The father does
not resent her harshness directly, but he
has been seen to caress the pups after
they had been snarled at by the mother.
Besides that, he teaches them by exam
pie how to capture their prey. When
weaving the young the mother begins to
neglect her husband as well as the pups.
She goes away by herself and stays longer
and longer with each trip, until at last
she fails to come home even at night.
| The father stays by his children and
continues to feed them for a time, even
after she has wholly deserted them, but he,
| too, eventually concludes that the mother
knew better how the youngsters should
be trained than he did, and so lets them
shift for themselves, and this they are
able to do in this country much better
than the settlers wish they could.
In Texas there is bounty on wolf
scalps, and in consequence the young are
persistently hunted by the settlers. 1t is
in connection with this hunting that the
wolf shows the only weakness in his
character. If the hunter arrives at the
den when the wolf is not in it, he will
have no trouble with either the mother
or the father of the pups. Even though
| both parents be within sight aud to-
gether, they will not even snarl, let alone
attack the intruder. Mr.. NIumford, a
well-known trapper and huntsman of
this country, has often captured wolves
in this way, he says, when living in
Stevens County, and has seen the parents
sit dog fashion on their launches not
hundred yards from the den while he
calmly carried off their progeny. of
course, since there was bounty on the
scalps of wolves, Mr.. Mumford invariably
left the mother wolf alive, but shot the
dog wolf after securing the pups.
The stories of the terrors of wolf
attack on the steppes of Russia are
familiar to everyone. These may not
prove any courage on the part of a wolf,
for they attack then in great packs. At
the same time there is no other animal
smaller than a lion or a tiger that makes
a practice of attacking men, even when
pressed by hunger The yarns about
| panthers doing so are founded on moon
shine. But in Texas there are well
authenticated cases of the great gray
wolves attacking a man when no more
than two were hunting together, while
the black wolf found in the rocky de-
| files of the upper waters of the Brazos
and the forks of the Red River will
sometimes attack Il man single handed.
/ The size of these wolves is immense.
| There are hides now here IN this village
that measure dry over six feet long over all.
! When green they are unquestionably
found as long as seven feet. 1t is not un-
likely that fur dealers in New York have
few such skins now in stock, for the
skins collected in this county are all
shipped to New York by the way of
Galveston. The black wolf skin is one
of the handsomest in nature, and either
as a rug or lap robe is valuable fur
Fine skins may be had in this country at
from 81 to 81 each.
1t will be interesting, no doubt, to
those who have always supposed that the
wolf was a cowardly sneak to learn that
he is not only brave and manly sort of
a fellow, but that he is also a vegetarian.
| The popular belief is that the wolf eats
meat only, venison chiefly, but consents
to take it in rabbits, prairie dogs, young
animals and birds of all sorts, the eggs
of all birds that nest on the ground, with
an occasional taste Of frog found
hopping about. 1t is also said
that he esteems fish. His reputa-
ton in this matteris pretty well founded.
He is as fond of venison and frogs hind
legs as white folks are, but is, of course,
somewhat less fastidious, for he eats the
forelegs of the frogs, and, in fact, the
entire frog, as well as the hind legs.
But he eats very few deer in this country,
save fawns, for he cannot catch them.
Sometimes pack will drive a deer into
pond OF tank of water, and will then
divide up and picket all sides of the
water until the deer leaves it, and so
head him off and capture him. If the
water is deep enough the deer is sure to
! lie down so that only its nose is exposed
above the water, and even that is awash.
The antics of the wolves at this time are
at once interesting and ludicrous. They
go tearing around the pond in gallop,
and, gathering their legs under them at
Intervals of few rods, leap high in air
in order to get the better view of their
prey.
But in the right season the wolf is a
pretty good vegetarian. He esteems
ripe berries OF all sorts very highly, and
shows an especial fondness for ripe straw
berries. The wild grapes of this country
! that grow ON vines running over little
scrub plum trees, together with the
plums when fully ripe, are eaten greedily.
But the one popularity of his appetite that
seems incredible to those unacquainted
with the wolf is his liking for water
melons About the first seed sown on
the frontier is the watermelon. In no
country in the world can more abundant
crops of melons be raised than here, and
the wolf is very glad of it. He comes at
night, of course, and goes over the patch
carefully. He is a most excellent Judge
of watermelons, always selecting the
largest and ripcst in the patch. He
probably does this by smelling of them /;
but in any event he never touches one
not thoroughly ripe. He breaks open
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