148 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



Beetles and grasshoppers, horned lizards, and 

 even the bitter-skinned toads are used for food. 

 In spite of his bad odor, the skunk is preyed 

 upon. The coyote's strong appetite for young 

 pigs, chickens, and sheep is an impulse which 

 leads him to the rashest butchery, so that not 

 without cause is he almost universally declared 

 by "cowmen "-to be the " worst varmint that 

 infests the earth. 1 ' Once having tasted blood, 

 he seems to lose all sense of prudence and of 

 fear, and he comes about the ranch yards in 

 the broad light of day and walks boldly among 

 the cattle pens awaiting his chance to seize 

 any unsuspecting fowl or young pig which in 

 search of food may have wandered too far away 

 from the barns. 



During years of terrible drought, when the 

 springs dry up in early April and scarcely a 

 blade of grass comes up to provide food for 

 the hungry, lean cattle that wander over the 

 hills, the coyotes become very aggressive, take 

 advantage of the weakness of the mother cows, 

 and snatch the young calves when scarcely 

 born. If a calf is attacked when near other 

 cattle, the whole herd, hearing the bellowing 



