96 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



and coyotes had their usual serenade; but they 

 gathered in the depressions between the hills. 

 Quickly they adjusted themselves to the new 

 conditions, with " Safety first!" always the de- 

 termining factor. 



The coyote has a remarkable voice. It 

 gives him a picturesque part. Usually his 

 spoken efforts are in the early evening; more 

 rarely in early morning. Often a number, in 

 a pack or widely separated, will engage in a 

 concert. It is a concert of clowns; in it are 

 varying and changing voices; all the breaks in 

 the evening song are filled with startling ven- 

 triloquistic effects. The voice may be thrown in 

 many directions and over varying distances at 

 once, so that the sounds are multiplied, and the 

 efforts of two or three coyotes seem like those 

 of a numerous and scattered pack, i 



However, the coyote uses his voice for other 

 things than pleasure. He has a dialect with 

 which he signals his fellows; he warns them of 

 dangers and tells of opportunities; he asks for 

 information and calls for assistance. He is 

 constantly saving himself from danger or se- 

 curing his needed food by cooperating with his 

 fellows. These united efforts are largely pos- 

 sible through his ability to express the situation 

 with voice and tongue. 



Through repetition a coyote's signals are oft- 



