122 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



ously hurt. Rather curiously, the only bad wound it ever 

 received was from a coyote; the little wolf, not one-third 

 of its weight, managing to inflict a terrific gash down its 

 huge antagonist's chest, nearly tearing it open. But of 

 course a coyote against such a foe could not last much 

 longer than a rat pitted against a terrier. 



Big wolves and coyotes are found side by side 

 throughout the Western United States, both varying so 

 in size that if a sufficient number of specimens, from dif- 

 ferent localities, are examined it will be found that there 

 is a complete intergradation in both stature and weight. 

 To the northward the coyotes disappear, and the big 

 wolves grow larger and larger until in the arctic regions 

 they become veritable giants. At Point Barrow Mr. E. 

 A. Mcllhenny had six of the eight " huskies " of his dog 

 team killed and eaten by a huge white dog wolf. At last 

 he shot it, and found that it weighed one hundred and 

 sixty-one pounds. 



Good trail hounds can run down a wolf. A year ago 

 Jake Borah's pack in northwestern Colorado ran a big 

 wolf weighing one hundred and fifteen pounds to bay in 

 but little over an hour. He then stood with his back to a 

 rock, and though the dogs formed a semicircle around 

 him, they dared not tackle him. Jake got up and shot him. 

 Unless well trained and with the natural fighting edge 

 neither trail hounds (fox-hounds) nor greyhounds can 

 or will kill a big wolf, and under ordinary circumstances, 

 no matter how numerous, they make but a poor showing 

 against one. But big ninety-pound or one hundred- 

 pound greyhounds, specially bred and trained for the 



