William Henry Flower and Richard Lydekker

“ In North America there is a second distinct smaller species, called the coyote or prairie-wolf (Canis latrans) , and perhaps the Japanese wolf (C. hodophylax) may be distinct, although, except for its smaller size and shorter legs, it is scarcely distinguishable from the common species. The wolf enters the N.W. corner of India, but in the peninsula is replaced by the more jackal-like C. pallipes, which is probably a member of the jackal group, and not a wolf at all.
The ordinary colour of the wolf is yellowish or fulvous grey, but almost pure white and entirely black wolves are known. ”

“ To judge by the osteological remains which the researches of geologists have brought to light, there was perhaps scarcely a county in England or Wales in which, at one time or another, wolves did not abound, while in Scotland and Ireland they must have been still more numerous. The fossil remains which have been discovered in Britain are not larger than, nor in any way to be distinguished from, the corresponding bones and teeth of European wolves of the present day. ”

“ In northern countries the fur is longer and thicker, and the animal generally larger and more powerful than in the southern portion of its range. Its habits are similar everywhere and it is still, and has been from time immemorial, especially known to man in all the countries it inhabits as the devastator of sheep flocks. ”

“ Excluding some varieties of domestic dogs, wolves are the largest members of the genus, and have a wide geographical range, extending over nearly the whole of Europe and Asia, and North America from Greenland to Mexico, but are not found in South America or Africa, where they are replaced by other members of the family. ”

“ Except during summer when the young families of cubs are being separately provided for by their parents, they assemble in troops or packs, often in relays, and by their combined and persevering efforts are able to overpower and kill deer, antelope and wounded animals of all sizes. ”

“ It is owing to their position that the British Isles have been able to clear themselves of these formidable and destructive animals, for France, with no natural boundaries to prevent their incursions from the continent to the east, is liable every winter to visits from numbers of these animals. ”