LIFEINTHEFARWEST. 77 



mals is seen, it is certain sign that buffalo are not far distant 

 Besides the buffalo wolf, there are four distinct varieties common 

 to the plains, and all more or less attendant upon the buffalo. 

 These are, the black, the gray, the brown, and last and least, the 

 coyote, or cayeute of the mountaineers, the " icacli-unkiunanet^'' 

 or "medicine wolf" of the Indians, who hold the latter animal in 

 reverential awe. This little wolf, whose fur is of great thickness 

 and beauty, is of diminutive size, but wonderfully sagacious, mak- 

 ing up by cunning what it wants in physical strength. In bands 

 of from three to thirty they not unfrequently station themselves 

 along the "runs" of the deer and the antelope, extending their 

 line for many miles — and the quarry being started, each wolf fol- 

 lows in pursuit until tired, when it relinquishes the chase to another 

 relay, following slowly after until the animal is fairly run down, when 

 all hurry to the spot and speedily consume the carcass. The cayeute, 

 however, is often made a tool of by his larger brethren, unless, in- 

 deed, he acts from motives of spontaneous charity. "When a hunt- 

 er has slaughtered game, and is in the act of butchering it, these 

 little wolves sit patiently at a short distance from the scene of op- 

 erations, while at a more respectful one the larger wolves (the 

 white or gray) lope hungrily around, licking their chops in hungry 

 expectation. Not unfrequently the hunter throws a piece of meat 

 toward the smaller one, who seizes it immediately, and runs off 

 with the morsel in his mouth. Before he gets many yards with 

 his prize, the large wolf pounces with a growl upon him, and the 

 cayeute, dropping the meat, returns to his former position, and will 

 continue his charitable act as long as the hunter pleases to supply 

 him. 



Wolves are so common on the plains and in the mountains, 

 that the hunter never cares to throw away a charge of ammuni- 

 tion upon them, although the ravenous animals are a constant 

 source of annoyance to him, creeping to the camp-fire at night, 

 and gnawing his saddles and apishainores, eating the skin ropes 



