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CHAPTER XIX. 



WOLVES AND WOLF-HOUNDS. 



THE wolf is the arch type of ravin, the beast of 

 waste and desolation. It is still found scattered 

 thinly throughout all the wilder portions of the 

 United States, but has everywhere retreated from the 

 advance of civilization. 



Wolves show an infinite variety in color, size, physical 

 formation, and temper. Almost all the varieties inter- 

 grade with one another, however, so that it is very diffi- 

 cult to draw a hard and fast line between any two of 

 them. Nevertheless, west of the Mississippi there are 

 found two distinct types. One is the wolf proper, or big 

 wolf, specifically akin to the wolves of the eastern States. 

 The other is the little coyote, or prairie wolf. The coyote 

 and the big wolf are found together in almost all the 

 wilder districts from the Rio Grande to the valleys of the 

 upper Missouri and the upper Columbia. Throughout 

 this region there is always a sharp line of demarkation, 

 especially in size, between the coyotes and the big wolves 

 of any given district ; but in certain districts the big 

 wolves are very much larger than their brethren in other 



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