This Indian Wolf has dingy reddish-white fur, some of the hairs being tipped with black; the lower parts are dingy white, the tail slightly tipped with black.
Closely allied to the Indian Wolf is a variety from Tibet, “Canis laniger, sometimes called the ‘White Wolf’ by sportsmen who cross the Himalayas. It is the Chángú of Tibet, Chankodi, near the Niti Pass from Kumaon; and it is a larger animal than the Indian Wolf, with white face and limbs, and no dark tip to the tail, which is fully brushed. The hair is extremely woolly,” this peculiarity being, of course brought about by the cold climate to which the animal is exposed. Tibet also boasts another variety, the Red or Golden Wolf, which is fulvous, with greyish-brown head, and with the lower parts pure white. A third variety, with black shaggy fur, and sometimes known as Canis niger, exists in the same country.
The North American Wolf, which extends from Greenland in the north to Mexico in the south, is often separately considered as Canis occidentalis. It differs from the European kind chiefly in its fur being finer, denser, and longer, and in the curious fact that its feet are, as Sir John Richardson remarks, very broad, so as to enable it to run easily on the snow. The development of these natural snow-shoes in the American Wolf fitting it so beautifully for its particular mode of life is highly interesting. This species is entirely absent from South America, but its wide distribution in North America may be gathered from Richardson’s account:—
“Wolves are found in greater or less abundance in different districts, but they may be said to be very common throughout the northern regions; their footmarks may be seen by the side of every stream, and a traveller can rarely pass a night in these wilds without hearing them howling around him. They are very numerous on the sandy plains which, lying to the eastward of the Rocky Mountains, extend from the sources of the Peace and Saskatchewan Rivers towards the Missouri. There bands of them hang on the skirts of the Buffalo herds, and prey upon the sick and straggling Calves. They do not, under ordinary circumstances, venture to attack the full-grown animal; for the hunters informed me that they often see Wolves walking through a herd of Bulls without exciting the least alarm; and the marksmen, when they crawl towards a Buffalo for the purpose of shooting it, occasionally wear a cap with two ears, in imitation of the head of a Wolf, knowing from experience that they will be suffered to approach nearer in that guise.”[126]
The American Wolf extends into Greenland, where the Eskimo take it in traps of a very novel construction, “made of strong slabs of ice, long and narrow, so that a Fox can with difficulty turn himself in it; but a Wolf must actually remain in the position in which he is taken. The door is a heavy portcullis of ice, sliding in two well-secured grooves of the same substance, and is kept up by a line, which, passing over the top of the trap, is carried through a hole at the farthest extremity; to the end of the line is fastened a small hoop of whalebone, and to this any kind of flesh bait is attached. From the slab which terminates the trap a projection of ice, or a peg of wood or bone, points inwards near the bottom, and under this the hoop is lightly hooked; the slightest pull at the bait liberates it, the door falls in an instant, and the Wolf is speared where he lies.”
There are no less than five varieties of the North American Wolf, to all of which separate specific names have been given by authors. They are: the Common Grey Wolf (Lupus griseus), the White Wolf (Lupus albus), the Pied Wolf (Lupus sticte), the Dusky Wolf (Lupus nubilus), and the Black Wolf (Lupus ater.) All these differ from one another only in the lesser details of colouring and other minor characters. In their habits they resemble one another entirely, and it is therefore unnecessary to do more than mention them.
The Coyote, or Prairie Wolf[127] occurs, along with the common North American Wolf, as far south as Mexico; its northern range being about the 55th degree of latitude.
“The Prairie Wolf has much resemblance to the Common Grey Wolf in colour; but differs from it so much in size, voice, and manners, that it is fully entitled to rank as a distinct species. It inhabits the plains of the Missouri and Saskatchewan, and also, though in smaller numbers, those of Columbia. On the banks of the Saskatchewan, these animals start from the earth in great numbers on hearing the report of a gun, and gather around the hunter in expectation of getting the offal of the animal he has slaughtered. They hunt in packs, and are much more fleet than the Common Wolf. I was informed by a gentleman who has resided forty years on the Saskatchewan, and is an experienced hunter, that the only animal on the plains which he could not overtake, when mounted on a good Horse, was the Prong-horned Antelope, and that the Meesteh-chaggoneesh, or Prairie Wolf, was the next in speed.”
“The fur of the Prairie Wolf is of the same quality with that of the Grey Wolf, and consists of long hairs, with a thick wool at their base. The wool has a smoky or dull lead colour; the long hairs on the back are either white for their whole length, or they are merely tipped with black. The prevailing colour along the spine is dark blackish-grey, sprinkled with white hairs. Its cheeks, upper lip, chin, throat, belly, and insides of the thighs, are white. There is a light-brown tint upon the upper surface of the nose, on the forehead, and between the ears, on the shoulders, on the sides, where it is mixed with grey, and on the outsides of the thighs and legs. The tail is grey and brown, with a black tip. Some individuals have a broad black mark on the shins of the fore-legs, like the European Wolf. The ears are short, erect, and roundish, white anteriorly and brown behind. The tail is bushy, and is clothed, like the body, with wool and long hair. Some specimens want the brown tints, and have most of the grey colour.”[128] The length of body and head together amounts to about three feet; that of the tail about fourteen or fifteen inches.
