In winters

bred and entirely consume him. when there is not snow upon the ground his white skin betrays him. From March to August, the hunting of the hare should be followed with moderation. A prudent and old sportsman never shoots the female at that period; and if a few males are shot it does no harm. The female is generally larger, carries herself higher when she runs, makes small bounds, and squats often; the male is little, runs low, and makes wide bounds.

"It is asserted that old male hares kill the young ones; but I believe the case is the same with this as with other animals,-that when any of them has got a good station, the strongest drives the weakest from it. In the spring it is easiest for the dogs to get them up; and as the males ramble* both night and day, one can often find four or five with one female. About Midsummer is the most difficult time to find them, when the juniper bush is in bloom, and all flowers throw out such a strong scent that it is not easy for the dogs to wind them: the hare also does not require to go far for food. I have often seen by the dew in the fields, and in the wood, that he has not moved ten steps round about; when he has hit upon buckbean, (wattwäppling) or any other palatable food. In autumn and winter the hare sits close; but in October and November

* "The old hares are called ramblers, in the spring, when they stroll about to great distances to seek for the females."

the dogs can easily enough get him up. It helps, as they say, to get the hare on foot, by shouts, shots, and rattles. One may very well use five or six, or even a greater number of dogs. In autumn the hare frequents the open country,、 and grounds covered with small juniper bushes; and when the snow falls it sits sometimes in the snow-drifts, and in the furrows of corn-fields. When it is hard weather it will remain two or three nights without going from its seat.* During a thaw it sits often on stones and in open places, but in severe cold in thickets and bushes. The hare is caught with snares in fences, or with the usual gins in woods and hedges. Roasted, it-especially a young hare-makes a good dish at table."

"I was once," Mr. Greiff says, "at a hunt, when a female hare was shot, on opening of which seven young ones, all alive, were found and cast to the dogs; a bitch which had lately pupped, took one of the young ones, laid it in a bush, and licked and dried it; and we sportsmen had a difficulty to get it from her, as she constantly licked and caressed it, as if she wanted to give it suck. It was carried home, and fed with milk. Eight days afterwards, it was killed, by an unlucky accident, to the great mortification of all the hunting party."

"On new snow, I by accident found a hare that had not left its seat for three days."

CHAPTER VI.

Wolves.-Pitfalls.-Anecdotes of Wolves.

DURING this little expedition, Mr. Falk felt some apprehensions for his dogs, as at that time there were a good many wolves prowling about the country; but owing to the uproar that we made in the forest, it is probable those ferocious animals kept at a distance.

Wolves are said to be particularly partial to dogs. Indeed, those animals usually picked up every one that was at large in this part of the country. Several were taken from both Risäter and Uddeholm. Caresse was the drawing-room pet at the latter mansion, and was as fat and as sleek as a mole; but happening to be star-gazing one evening, just outside the door, a famished wolf whipped her up in his horrid jaws, and was instantly across the lake with her.

Unless along with me in the forest, I rarely allowed my own dogs to be slipped from their couplings at this season of the This precaution was very necessary, as it not unfrequently

year. This

happened that the wolves were in the immediate vicinity of Lapp cottage. Once, indeed, a small drove, as I saw by their tracks, passed within ten paces of my dog-kennel.

On another occasion, a single wolf posted himself, in the middle of the day, within about fifty paces of the house; but only females were at home, and he therefore went off unmolested.

Wolves were not often to be seen at this period of the year in the wilds of the forest; their common resort being in the vicinity of villages and roads. Here they occasionally got hold of a stray pig, goat, &c.; but in the northern parts of Wermeland, they were less destructive than in the more southern districts of Sweden. This was owing to the cattle thereabouts being universally housed during the whole of the winter months.

Once now and then, however, the wolves made an attack upon domestic animals, even when under cover. An instance of the kind took place in the vicinity of Uddeholm, a few days before I first visited that part of the country ;-the circumstance was as follows:

A peasant, whose name I forget, had just turned into his bed for the night, when suddenly his ears were assailed by a most tremendous uproar in his cattle shed (Ladugård). On hearing the noise, he jumped up, and, though almost in a state of nudity, he proceeded into the building to see what was the matter; but the mystery was soon

explained, for he quickly made out the unwelcome visitor to be an immense wolf. seized by the ears, and at the

out most lustily for assistance.

This he gallantly

same time called

His wife now came to his aid; but though she was armed with a hatchet, with which she kept chopping away at the wolf's head, it was a long time before she could succeed in dispatching him. Indeed, it was said she only effected this at last by driving the handle of the hatchet down the throat of the beast. The skin of this animal subsequently came into my possession, but it was much injured from cuts.

During this rather arduous conflict the poor man's hands and wrists were bitten through and through by the wolf; when I saw him, in fact, a short time subsequently, the wounds had not entirely healed. Before this marauder was destroyed he had slaughtered four goats, and would probably have killed the remainder of the poor creatures that were confined in the building, had he been left to himself a short time longer.

Wolves were occasionally caught by traps in the vicinity of my quarters. They were also not unfrequently taken in pitfalls, consisting of circular holes about twelve feet in depth and diameter. In their centres strong upright posts were affixed, which came up even with the surface of the ground. On the top of these posts, a small platform of fifteen or eighteen inches square was