Farley Mowat, official biologist for the Canadian government, plane hitch-hiked far to the Canadian north into the heart of the Keewatin Barren Lands to find out how wolves lived.

While his new book ["Never Cry Wolf"] seems to start slowly, it quickens considerably when a decrepit and creaky airplane, resuscitated by an ex-R.A.F. pilot, flew Mr. Mowat and a mountain of supplies out of Churchill onto a Barrens frozen lake the exact location of which neither the pilot, nor Mr. Mowat knew.

But the biologist, by a quirk of good fortune, had arrived safely at his "base." He was on his own. Now to find some wolves to see what they were up to. In the course of events, this took an Arctic summer….

Eventually, Mr. Mowat found a den of wolves—four young ones and the parents and right where he could conveniently observe them...