168 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



those Kerry ponies which are said to be able to slide down 

 a precipice with a rider. 



With a good horse and a fast pack of hounds, few sports 

 are more spirited than a coyote-hunt, as the run is, in near- 

 ly all cases, a break-neck one ; for the animal leaves what 

 might be called a screaming scent, and its flight is as 

 straight as a bee-line, except under unusual circumstances. 

 The male has one of the most vilely obscene odors imagi^ 

 nable ; and if the wind is blowing from his direction when 

 he is in flight, a person with keen olfactories can detect it, 

 if close on. Although the coyote is generally captured by 

 being trapped or poisoned, yet a few gentlemen of sport- 

 ing proclivities have a dash after it occasionally on horse- 

 back, their ride being cheered by the stirring music of 

 flute-voiced fox-hounds. Others keep mongrel greyhounds, 

 which can overtake it in a spurt of two or three miles, if it 

 has not received too much of a start ; and they afford cap- 

 ital amusement, as the run is nearly always a straight one, 

 for the animal doubles only when headed off or closely 

 pressed. Those who poison it for its skin frequently scat- 

 ter a little assafoetida over the bait, as it likes the smell of 

 this, and will eat any meat on which it is placed with a rav- 

 enousness that only wolves or jackals can display. 



It is sometimes rather dangerous to handle this animal 

 when dead, for it is frequently covered with sores, produced 

 by eating the corpses of Indians, which are often left un- 

 buried, or so lightly covered that they can be easily dug 

 up. Persons should therefore be cautious about handling 

 it without gloves. 



The only danger one encounters in hunting it on horse- 

 back is, that in a headlong dash his steed may tread in the 

 hole of a prairie-dog, badger, or ground-squirrel, and break 

 its leg, or be thrown so violently as to pitch the rider sev- 

 eral feet away on his back. This can be avoided, however, 

 by a little caution, so that the sport is not so dangerous as 

 fox or stag hunting in Europe. 



A run is spoiled occasionally by the numbers of the ani- 

 mal, for, congregating as it does in large packs, it is no un- 



