Coyote 809 



fore-leg, then amused herself by growling and urinating 

 elaborately over the fallen foe; a treatment to which the van- 

 quished submitted with every appearance of abject fear. 



This disposition to spurn and insult a conquered enemy 

 seems peculiar to the dogs. Nothing of the kind is observable 

 in cats. When a cat's enemy flies, the victor is done with him, 

 but flight of the foe is the strongest incentive in a dog to pursue 

 for a time at least and cover himself with glory. 



The speed of the Coyote is great, and has often been the speed 

 subject of admiring comment, but I think it has been over- 

 rated. After collecting data of various kinds, such as actual 

 known records of dogs and horses, also the comparative 

 records of dogs and Hares, or horses and Foxes, Wolves and 

 hounds, hounds and automobiles, I have attempted a scale of 

 comparative speeds. This appears in a diff^erent form in the 

 Antelope chapter, p. 233 : 



Blood Race-horse covers a mile in about i minute 40 seconds 



Pronghorned Antelope 

 First-class Greyhound 

 Jack-rabbit 

 Common Fox 

 Northern Coyote 

 Foxhound 

 American Gray-wolf 



1 _ 50 



2 minutes o 

 2 " 10 

 2 " 20 

 2 " 30 



2 " 40 



Many hunters would set the Kit-fox or Swift yet above 

 the Greyhound, especially for a short race, but I have had no 

 personal experience with the species in a chase. The little 

 Prairie Cottontail, can, I believe, get away from the Swift in a 

 hundred yards dash; they cannot keep it up for long, but their 

 initial velocity is incredible and bafiles the eye, not a leg, not a 

 Rabbit is to be seen, nothing but a white streak across the 

 prairie, till it promptly disappears in some burrow. 



What actually counts in the race is, as usual, the trifle more 

 speed that each animal can command. 



For example, the Gray-wolf makes 650 yards to the minute 

 and the Coyote about 700. But that 50 yards makes all the 



