down each hind
leg to the vent. The skin being cut loose around this point, the
bone of the tail should next be removed. This may be done by holding
a split stick tightly over the bone after which the latter may be
easily pulled out of the skin.

The hide should then be drawn back, and carefully removed, working
with caution around the legs, and particularly so about the eyes,
ears, and lips when these points are reached. The skin should be
stretched as described on page 273.

THE WOLF.

The United States are blessed with several species of this animal.
The Grey Wolf, which is the largest, and the smaller, Prairie Wolf
or Coyote, being the most commonly known. There are also the White
Wolf, Black Wolf and the Texan or Red Wolf. In outward form they
all bear a considerable resemblance to each other, and their habits
are generally similar in the different varieties.

Wolves are fierce and dangerous animals, and are very powerful of
limb and fleet of foot. They are extremely cowardly in character,
and will seldom attack man or animal except when by their greater
numbers they would be sure of victory. Wolves are found in almost
every quarter of the globe. Mountain and plain, field, jungle and
prairie are alike infested with them, and they hunt in united bands,
feeding upon almost any animal which by their combined attacks
they can overpower.

Their inroads upon herds and sheep folds are sometimes horrifying,
and a single wolf has been known to kill as many as forty sheep
in a single night, seemingly from mere blood-thirsty desire.

In the early colonization of America, wolves ran wild over the
country in immense numbers, and were a source of great danger;
but now, owing to wide-spread civilization, they have disappeared
from the more settled localities and are chiefly found in Western
wilds and prairie lands.

The Grey Wolf is the largest and most formidable representative of
the Dog tribe on this continent. Its general appearance is truthfully
given in our drawing. Its length, exclusive of the tail, is about
four feet, the length of the tail being about a foot and a half.
Its color varies from yellowish grey to almost
[Page 159]
white in the northern countries, in which latitude the animal is
sometimes found of an enormous size, measuring nearly seven feet in
length. The fur is coarse and shaggy about the neck and haunches,
and the tail is bushy. They abound in the region east of the Rocky
Mountains and north