136 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



to all its wild tribe. Its specific distinction of lafrans is most 

 appropriate, for a bigger barking thief it would be difficult to 

 find ; nor, at the same time, one more cowardly, for a cur will 

 cause a whole pack to scamper away with the utmost celerity. 

 It never attacks man, even when famishing; but should he 

 leave any edibles convenient, it will steal them with greater 

 cunning than ever fox displayed. 



The Indians of Washington Territory have a tradition that 

 it is a demon or deity, and therefore pay it much respect, and 

 never, I believe, kill it, for fear of its bringing them " bad 

 medicine," or ill luck. It figures largely in the myths of all 

 the red men inhabiting the region bordering the Pacific Ocean, 

 and occupies a position of prominence not accorded to any 

 other animal. While it is common everywhere in the Far 

 West, it is unusually abundant on the great plains of the 

 Columbia, east of the Cascade Range, as it finds plenty of food 

 there in the innumerable sage hares, ground squirrels, badgers, 

 and other small game that inhabit the country ; while it enjoys 

 a feast, that lasts for several months, off the myriads of dead 

 salmon that strew the banks of the Columbia and its numerous 

 tributaries during the spawning season. I have seen coyotes 

 trotting up and down the shores of these rivers in large packs 

 during the spring and summer, and fighting and snarling 

 over any of fill washed ashore by the waves. 



It has so little fear of man in that region that it will impu- 

 dently stare at him as he passes by, perhaps within revolver 

 range, and should he fire at it and miss, the result might be 

 that it would trot off a few paces, then turn about and gaze 

 once more with an expression in which one might read, " I 

 wonder who that is? what could lie mean by making that 

 noise? he evidently is no friend of mine, so I'll be off to safer 

 quarters;" and having come to this conclusion it would quietly 

 move off, as if it were in no great hurry to display its fears. 

 Should one repeat the lire, however, it would become a dis- 

 solving view, for when put to it, few of its genus can make 

 better time for a short distance, say from ten to fifteen or 

 twenty miles. It has so little running to do in search of its 

 prey in the Far West, owinn 1 to the profusion of animal life, 



