Cats 



"This was the coyote's opportunity. As the hags dashed out 

 at one door, he seized a flaming brand in his teeth and leaped 

 through the other. He almost flew over the ground, but the 

 hags saw him and the sparks and gave chase, gaining on him 

 fast. By the time he was out of breath he reached the puma, 

 who took the brand and ran with it to the next animal, and 

 so on. Last of all was the frog, who caught the last spark of 

 fire in his mouth, swallowed it and dived, the hags catching 

 his tail, twitching it off in the act. The frog swam under 

 water a long distance, then came up and spat the fire into a 

 log of driftwood, and there it has stayed ever since, so that 

 when an Indian rubs two pieces of wood together the fire 

 comes forth." 



Most tribes of Western and Northwestern Indians are friendly to 

 the coyote, and their dogs seem to be partly at least of coyote 

 descent. 



The coyote is much too cunning to allow himself to be 

 trapped. The trappers say that there is only one animal that 

 is harder to catch, and that is the wolverine. The coyote's rav- 

 enous appetite, however, frequently gets him into trouble, for 

 in winter he picks up and bolts every scrap of meat that he 

 can find, first making sure that there is no hidden trap beside 

 it. But he cannot always tell when meat has been poisoned, 

 and large numbers are destroyed every season by scattering 

 scraps of poisoned meat where they will be sure to find it. 



The soft yellowish-gray fur of the coyote is rather pretty, 

 but is not of the right quality to make it a valuable fur. The 

 best skins seldom sell for more than 5oc. or 75c. ; even at this 

 price- large numbers are collected each winter. They are usually 

 made up into lap-robes or great coats, and sometimes into 

 driving gloves. 



CATS 



Family Felidcs 



In addition to our American Wild Cats there belong to this 

 family also the Domestic Cat and the Lion, Tiger, Leopard and 

 other most powerful carnivora. Fossil remains found in both 

 the Eastern and Western States show that there were much more 

 powerful members of this family existing here in past geological 



