82 POPULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 



TASMANIA* WOLF. 



disable almost any dog, and send it howling to the rear. 

 It is no wonder that western dogs of experience are shy of 

 approaching a Gray Wolf within snapping distance. 



Excepting the localities from which it has been driven 

 .out by civilization, the Gray Wolf ranges over the whole 

 North American continent from central Mexico to 83 24' N. 



The Coyote, or Prairie Wolf, (Canis latrans), is a personal 

 acquaintance of nearly every trans-continental traveler. To 

 those who have camped on the "plains," he is quite like 

 an old friend ; and the high-pitched, staccato cry half howl 

 and half bark with which he announces the dawn, is asso- 

 ciated with memories of vast stretches of open country, 

 magnificent distances, sage-brush and freedom. Because 

 of his fondness of barking, Thomas Say, the naturalist who 

 first described this species, christened it, Canis latrans, which 

 means "barking wolf." 



This animal averages about one-third smaller than the 

 gray wolf, and while the finest male specimens are, in the 

 autumn, really handsome animals, at other times the major- 

 ity are of very ordinary appearance. At no time, however, 

 even in the dark, is a Coyote a courageous animal. So far 

 as man is concerned, a band of a thousand coyotes would be 

 as easily put to flight as one ; but in hanging upon the ragged 

 edges of civilization, and living by its wits, the Coyote is 

 audacity itself. By inheritance, and also by personal ex- 

 perience this animal knows to a rod how far it is safe to 

 trust a man with a gun. If the hunter has left his gun 



