it is likewise absent in Ceylon.

[Illustration: _Canis pallipes_.]

DESCRIPTION.--"Hoary fulvous or dirty reddish-white, some of the
hairs tipped with black, which gives it a grizzled appearance;
somewhat reddish on the face and limbs, the latter paler than the
body; lower parts dingy white; tail thinly bushy, slightly
black-tipped; ears rather small" (_Jerdon_). But, as a matter of fact,
wolves vary greatly in colour. Every one who has seen much of them
will bear testimony to this. Sir Walter Elliot says: "Several adults
that I shot differed in their colours and general character." The
late Brigadier-General McMaster, in his notes on Jerdon, wrote:
"Wolves vary a good deal in colour and length of hair, probably with
season and climate. I have seen some of light reddish-grey, and
others much darker than any jackal;" and he speaks of another "nearly
as red as an Irish setter."

SIZE.--Head and body, about 3 feet; tail, 16 to 18 inches; height
at shoulder, 26 inches.

The Indian wolf is somewhat inferior in size to the European one,
and is probably less ferocious, or at all events its ferocity is not
called out by the severity of the climate, as in the case of _C. lupus_.
We never hear of them attacking bodies of men and overwhelming them
by numbers. In 1812 twenty-four French soldiers were surrounded by
an immense troop of wolves; and though, it is said, the men killed
two or three hundred of their assailants, they had to succumb at last
to numbers, and were all devoured. This was doubtless an extreme case,
but in the severe winters of the north, when these animals band
together and roam abroad in search of food, they will attack anything
that comes in their way, although a single wolf will hardly ever dare
to meddle with a man.

In India one seldom hears of their attacking grown-up men. I remember
an instance in which an old woman was a victim; but hundreds of
children are carried off annually, especially in Central India and
the North-west provinces.

Stories have been related of wolves sparing and suckling young
infants so carried off, which, if properly authenticated, will bring
the history of Romulus and Remus within the bounds of probability.
I have not by me just now the details of the case of the "Boy-Wolf"
of Lucknow, which was, I believe, a case vouched for by credible
witnesses. It was that of a boy found in a wolf's lair, who had no
power of speech, crawled about on his hands and knees, ate raw flesh