218 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



but they seemed to show little choice in their selection of beef. 

 Cows, steers, or calves seemed to be killed indiscriminately as 

 the wolves happened to come upon them when hungry. Cattle 

 are killed throughout the year and seem to be preferred to 

 deer, which are more nimble and not so easily caught. In the 

 wolf droppings along the trails cattle hair was almost the only 

 recognizable constituent, but occasionally some jack-rabbit fur 

 could be detected. " 



On account of their constant depredations against stock, a 

 determined warfare has been carried on in this region during 

 recent years with the result that in 1937, Goldman writes that 

 this form is now "nearly if not quite extinct." There is some 

 evidence, however, that if the campaign of extermination is 

 relaxed for a time, other wolves keep coming across the border 

 from the adjacent parts of Mexico into southern New Mexico 

 and Arizona, so that if in later years specimens are taken in the 

 former range of the Mogollon Mountain wolf, they may be of 

 some other race. 



TEXAS GRAY WOLF; "LOAFER"; "LOBO" 

 CANIS LUPUS MOKSTRABILIS Goldman 



Canis lupus monstrabilis Goldman, Journ. Mamm., vol. 18, p. 42, Feb., 1937 (" 10 miles 

 south of Rankin, Upton County, Texas"). 



This is a slightly marked race averaging darker than the 

 wolves to the north and with a more highly arched frontal 

 region. Its range formerly included southern and western 

 Texas and northeastern Mexico, but because of systematic 

 persecution its numbers are at present greatly reduced. 



Vernon Bailey's (1905) account of this wolf furnishes much 

 valuable information. At that time they were abundant in 

 and about the Davis and Guadalupe Mountains and over the 

 Staked Plains and open country east of the Pecos River. He 

 writes: "When opportunity offers, the 'loafer' not only kills 

 sheep but often kills a large number, apparently for the 

 pleasure of killing. His regular and most serious depredations, 

 however, are on the scattered and unguarded cattle of the 

 range. Two or three wolves usually hunt together and some- 

 times pull down a steer, but most of their meat is procured 

 from yearlings or cows. Occasionally a colt is killed but not 

 often. Where two or three wolves take up their residence on 



