IV 



THE HOUND OF THE PLAINS 



A PICTURE of the Great Plains is incomplete 

 without a coyote or two hurrying furtively through 

 the distance. The coyote is a wolf, about two- 

 thirds the size of the well-known European species 

 represented in North America by the big gray or 

 timber-wolf. He has a long lean body, legs a 

 trifle short, but sinewy and active; a head more 

 fox-like than wolfish, for the nose is long and 

 pointed ; yellow eyes set in spectacle-frames of 

 black eyelids; and hanging, tan-trimmed ears 

 that may be erected, giving a well-merited air of 

 alertness to their wearer; a tail (straight as a 

 pointer's) also fox-like, for it is bushy beyond the 

 ordinary lupine type ; and a shaggy, large-maned, 

 wind-ruffled, dust-gathering coat of dingy white, 

 suffused with tawny brown, or often decidedly 

 brindled. 



" Blown out of the prairie in twilight and dew, 

 Half bold and half timid, yet lazy all through, 



Lop-eared and large-jointed, but ever, alway, 

 A thoroughly vagabond outcast in gray." 

 99 



