gray wolves I ever saw in a
band was five. This was in northern New Mexico in January, 1894. The
most I ever heard of in a band was thirty-two that were seen in the same
region. These bands are apparently formed in winter only. The packs are
probably temporary associations of personal acquaintances, for some
temporary purpose, or passing reason, such as food question or
mating-instinct. As soon as this is settled, they scatter.

An instance in point was related to me by Mr. Gordon Wright of Carberry,
Manitoba. During the winter of 1865 he was logging at Sturgeon Lake,
Ontario. One Sunday he and some companions strolled out on the ice of
the lake to look at the logs there. They heard the hunting-cry of
wolves, then a deer (a female) darted from the woods to the open ice.
Her sides were heaving, her tongue out, and her legs cut by the slight
crust of the snow. Evidently she was hard pressed. She was coming toward
them, but one of the men gave a shout which caused her to sheer off. A
minute later six timber wolves appeared galloping on her trail, heads
low, tails horizontal, and howling continuously. They were uttering
their hunting-cry, but as soon as they saw her they broke into a louder,
different note, left the trail and made straight for her. Five of the
wolves were abreast and one that seemed much darker was behind. Within
half a mile they overtook her and pulled her down, all seemed to seize
her at once. For a few minutes she bleated like a sheep in distress;
after that the only sound was the snarling and the crunching of the
wolves as they feasted. Within fifteen minutes nothing was left of the
deer but hair and some of the larger bones, and the wolves fighting
among themselves for even these. Then they scattered, each going a
quarter of a mile or so, no two in the same direction, and those that
remained in view curled up there on the open lake to sleep. This
happened about ten in the morning within three hundred yards of several
witnesses.

2. The Psychological Crowd[303]

In its ordinary sense the word "crowd" means a gathering of individuals
of whatever nationality, profession, or sex, and whatever be the chances
that have brought them together. From the psychological point of view
the expression "crowd" assumes quite a different signification. Under
certain given circumstances, and only under those circumstances, an
agglomeration of men presents new characteristics very different from
those of the individ