MAMMALS CANID^E CANIS LATRANS. 45 



Very common from Fort Riley, Kansas, to the Pacific Ocean, and from 

 the Upper Missouri to the Rio Grande of Texas. A number of individuals 

 were secured from different localities visited by the expedition. 



The following account is taken from Dr. Coues' different papers in the 

 American Naturalist, as above cited. 



" The Prairie or Barking Wolf (Canis latrans, Say) is by far the most 

 abundant carnivorous animal in Arizona, as it is also in almost every part of 

 the West. Practically, the Coyot^ is a nuisance ; theoretically, he compels a 

 certain degree of admiration, viewing his irrepressible positivity of character 

 and his versatile nature. If his genius has nothing essentially noble or lofty 

 about it, it is undeniable that few animals possess so many and so various 

 attributes, or act them out with such dogged perseverance. Ever on the 

 alert, and keenly alive to a sense of danger, he yet exhibits the coolest 

 effrontery when his path crosses ours. The main object of his life seems to 

 be the satisfying of a hunger which is always craving ; and to this aim all 

 his cunning, impudence, and audacity are mainly directed. 



" Much has been written concerning the famous polyglot serenades of 

 the Coyote", by those who have been unwilling listeners, but it is difficult to 

 convey an adequate idea in words of the noisy confusion. One must have 

 spent an hour or two vainly trying to sleep before he is in a condition to 

 appreciate the full force of the annoyance. It is a singular fact that the 

 howling of two or three wolves gives an impression that a sqore are 

 engaged, so many, so long drawn are the notes, and so uninterruptedly are 

 they continued by one individual after another. A short, sharp bark is 

 sounded, followed by several more in quick succession, the time growing 

 faster and the pitch higher, till they run together into a long-drawn lugu- 

 brious howl in the highest possible key. The same strain is taken up again 

 and again by different members of the pack, while from a greater distance 

 the deep melancholy baying of the more wary Lobo breaks in, to add to the 

 discord, till the very leaves of the trees seem quivering to the inharmonious 

 sounds. It is not true, as asserted by some, that the Coyote's howl only just 

 after dark and at daylight. Though they may be noisiest at these times, 

 when the pack is gathering together for a night's foraging, or dispersing 

 again to their diurnal retreats, I know that they give tongue at any time 



