Vol. XI. pp. 19-33 March 15, 1897. 



PROCEEDINGS .Vf 





BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON L"* f' * ^ ^ 



REVISION OF THE COYOTES OR PRAIRIE WOLVES, 

 WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW FORMS. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



It has been customary to regard the Coyote as a single species, 

 inhabiting western North America from the pLains of the Sas- 

 katchewan to the southern end of the tableland of INIexico, and 

 from the fertile prairies of the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific 

 coast. A somewhat hasty study of the material now in hand, 

 however, shows that the name Coyote has not been applied to a 

 single animal, but to an assemblage of species comprising three 

 well marked subordinate groujxs and a considerable number of 

 distinct geograj^hic forms. The results of this and similar studies 

 should serve as a word of caution to those who are in the habit 

 of citing the wolves, cats, weasels, and other groups as ' species ' 

 whose ranges violate the laws of geographic distribution. 



It is often assumed that wolves and other large animals have 

 no fixed home, but roam at will over enormous areas, the moth- 

 ers stopping to give birth to and care for their 5^oung wlierever 

 chance finds them at the time. Except in the case of cer- 

 tain gregarious Ungulates, as the Buffalo, this belief is opposed 

 to the laws of geographic distribution and the known facts re- 

 specting the breeding habits and ' home instincts ' of animals. 

 It is of course true that wolves which hunt in packs and follow 

 moving herds travel relatively great distances, and that in winter 

 they perform regular migrations and also roam irregularly over 

 large tracts of country in search of food ; but even these move- 

 ments have geographi' limitations, as proved by the constancy 

 with which particular geographic forms are found within par- 



4— Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XI, 1897 (19) 



