Following the Lowland Wolf II7 



where or surrounded by hills and mountains, down the 

 sides of which lead washes and runways from a foot to 

 twenty feet deep. The coyote lives in the foothills and 

 on the slopes. Here he has a den weathered out per- 

 haps by the wind ; here he lives during the day, looking 

 down into the rich valleys and the haunts of men. As 

 night conies on, and the shadows deepen and take on 

 purple hues, when the heavy sea fog comes in along 

 the Santa Monica range, or up the bed of the Santa 

 Ana, he steals down the cafton and follows the shining 

 sands out into the valley, where he takes up the scent 

 of hares, and with his mate or mates runs them down ; 

 even a melon patch is game for him. He stands not on 

 the order of going, but slinks about like a ghost ; now 

 sending out peals of demoniac yelping laughter from an 

 orange grove, then heard half a mile away, setting the 

 dogs of towns and villages barking and the cocks to 

 crowing. In the morning I have visited the runs, the 

 little and big washes that were smooth the night before, 

 and in the round dog-like footprints have read the story 

 of the night, the coming and going of not only coyotes, 

 but wildcats and raccoons. The coyotes come out into 

 the open at night, in cultivated places, returning at 

 or before sunrise, and in hunting them it is well to 

 begin at some foothill country, line up the hunt, and 

 sweep out into the valley where some belated foraging 

 coyote may be met trotting up the white sandy wash 

 toward home. The Mission Hill range, which forms 

 the boundary of the San Gabriel Valley to the south, is 



