DOG FAMILY 



67 



while the little \Volf was the more deliberate, 

 and the better stayer. . . . When I first sighted 

 the contestants, they were in the midst of a san- 

 guinary round, but finished it in a few seconds, 

 and, separating, as if by mutual consent, both 

 backed off a few paces and sat down. The 

 Wolf growled and snarled, showed his ivories, 

 and licked his wounds in turn, while the Cat 

 hissed, spat, and caterwauled, much as a domes- 

 tic cat does when engaged in a family row. 

 Finally the Coyote started for the Cat, and 



take of poisoned bait. It seems to know when 

 a man is unarmed, and will sit undisturbed 

 within gunshot ; but when the hunter has his 

 gun it is a different matter. Dr. Hornaday 

 tried twice for two weeks, in Montana, to shoot 

 a Coyote, and could not get within three hun- 

 dred yards of one, and then only a running shot. 

 The Coyote has great speed. Mr. Seton places 

 it at its best in the 2.30 class. It, however, when 

 young, falls a prey to the gray wolf, eagle and 

 horned owl. 



Photograph by the U. S. Biological Survey 



COYOTE AT BAY 



The cowardly disposition of the Coyote is shown here, as the animal backs up against 

 a rock, to pose for an unwelcome portrait 



no sooner had he taken a step than the Cat shot 

 into the air, clearing at least ten feet in a single 

 leap, and lit on top of the Coyote. Then there 

 was snapping, clawing, snarling, yawling, howl- 

 ing, and shrieking. Teeth and toenails con- 

 tended valorously for the victory ; the air was 

 filled with hair, and rent with cries of rage and 

 shrieks of pain. . . . When both seemed ex- 

 hausted, they again drew off. Again they sat 

 nursing their wrath. . . . After the fifth round 

 the rest was much longer than at the end of 

 either of the others. ... I decided to assume 

 the role of referee, and mentally declaring the 

 fight a draw, took a shot at the Cat. This broke 

 up the affair suddenly." 



Though less cunning than the Gray Wolf, the 

 Coyote, as has been stated above, is decidedly 

 crafty. It is an adept in avoiding snares and 

 traps, although hunger often induces it to par- 



.\ small band of Coyotes hunting together 

 has been known to kill Mountain Sheep which 

 had been shut into a small pocket by an aval- 

 anche. Fawns are of course preyed upon in 

 summer and early fall, but the adult Deer only 

 in winter when the crust will sustain the Coy- 

 otes, but not the Deer. Forest rangers who have 

 seen Coyotes pursuing Deer in this manner state 

 that a band of five or six will overtake a Deer 

 and hamstring it very qviickly on a weak crust 

 of snow. Many calves also are killed by Coy- 

 otes in the mountain parks, and in certain local- 

 ities it is almost impossible to raise chickens 

 and turkeys because of their depredations. 



In some parts of the ^^'est, until recently. 

 Coyotes were unusually abundant and destruc- 

 tive. Numbers were seen on the plains where 

 they mixed freely with the cattle, and evinced 

 little fear of man unless he carried a gun. Dur- 



