180 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



tricts. In the upper Columbia country, for 

 instance, they are very large ; along the Rio- 

 Grande they are small. Dr. Hart Merriam 

 informs me that, according to his experience, 

 the coyote is largest in southern California. 

 In many respects the coyote differs altogether 

 in habits from its big relative. For one thing 

 it is far more tolerant of man. In some lo- 

 calities coyotes are more numerous around 

 settlements, and even in the close vicinity of 

 large towns, than they are in the frowning and 

 desolate fastnesses haunted by their grim 

 elder brother. 



Big wolves vary far more in color than the 

 coyotes do. I have seen white, black, red, 

 yellow, brown, gray, and grizzled skins, and 

 others representing every shade between, al- 

 though usually each locality has its prevailing 

 tint. The grizzled, gray, and brown often 

 have precisely the coat of the coyote. The 

 difference in size among wolves of different 

 localities, and even of the same locality, is 

 quite remarkable, and so, curiously enough, is 

 the difference in the size of the teeth, in some 

 cases even when the body of one wolf is as big 

 as that of another. I have seen wolves from 

 Texas and New Mexico which were under- 

 sized, slim animals with rather small tusks, in 

 no way to be compared to the long-toothed 

 giants of their race that dwell in the heavily 

 timbered mountains of the Northwest and in 

 the far North. As a rule, the teeth of the co- 

 yote are relatively smaller than those of the 

 gray wolf. 



