iv THE HOUND OF THE PLAINS 1 07 



and Nebraska he is accused of making havoc 

 among the domestic poultry, but it is quite likely 

 he gets the discredit of many depredations by 

 foxes, weasels, and skunks. Similar misdeeds 

 were justly charged against him by the farmers 

 of Illinois and Wisconsin, when, fifty years ago, 

 the prairies of those States were the frontier. 

 Two or three times a year, therefore, a general 

 holiday would be declared, and a wolf-hunt organ- 

 ized, in which volunteers from all the surrounding 

 settlements would gather, form a circle miles in 

 diameter around the spot to which the game was 

 to be driven, and then, systematically marching 

 forward, would concentrate until they had cor- 

 ralled the animals into a small district. Such 

 battues would result in the destruction of great 

 numbers not only of prairie-wolves, but also of 

 lynxes, polecats, and other "vermin," and free 

 the neighborhood of these pests for that season 

 at least, besides being the occasion of a social 

 merrymaking rare enough to be keenly enjoyed 

 among the frontiersmen. 



Tactics similar to those in coursing a stag upon 

 the ice, as already mentioned, are pursued by the 

 coyote when he sets his heart upon a hare. Alone, 

 he could neither overtake nor surprise it. Two 

 wolves assist one another, therefore, one giving 

 instant chase while the other squats upon his 

 haunches and watches the operation. The runner 

 turns the hare in a circle that presently brings it 



