That is why the wolf, unlike the less intelligent dog, hunts
always in a silent, stealthy, unobtrusive way; and why he stops hunting
and goes away the instant his own hunger is satisfied or another wolf
kills enough for all. And that is also the probable reason why he lets
the deer alone as long as he can find any other game.
This same intelligent provision was shown in another curious way. When a
wolf in his wide ranging found a good hunting-ground where small game
was plentiful, he would snap up a rabbit silently in the twilight and
then go far away, perhaps to join the other cubs in a gambol, or to
follow them to the cliffs over a fishing village and set all the dogs to
howling. By day he would lie close in some thick cover, miles away from
his hunting-ground. At twilight he would steal back and hunt quietly,
just long enough to get his game, and then trot away again, leaving the
cover as unharried as if there were not a wolf in the whole
neighborhood.
Such a good hunting-ground cannot long remain hidden from other prowlers
in the wilderness; and Wayeeses, who was keeping his discovery to
himself, would soon cross the trail of a certain old fox returning day
after day to the same good covers.
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