222 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



Nature of contents No. of coyote stomachs Total 



1919-23 1924-28 



Beef 2,517 2,239 4,756 



Horse 1,500 3,oio 4,510 



Sheep or goat 6,946 9,079 16,025 



Pork 209 371 580 



Poultry 1,306 2,705 4,111 



Grouse and quail 1,268 2,571 3,839 



Waterfowl 94 136 230 



Other birds 805 982 1,787 



Deer 399 1,209 1,608 



Elk 20 72 92 



Antelope 40 84 124 



Rabbit 7,929 12,141 20,070 



Ground squirrel 1,148 1,736 2,884 



Prairie-dog 584 511 i ,095 



Chipmunk 65 100 165 



Marmot 64 286 350 



Mouse or rat !,4 2 7 2,605 4,032 



Bait from traps 5,293 1 1,663 16,966 



Carrion 2,357 3,874 6,231 



Insects or worms 669 542 1,21 1 



Fish, frog, reptile 138 1 16 254 



Grass, sticks, berries 2,211 3,138 5,349 



Stock contained in 25,871, rodents in 27,596, poultry in 4111, deer, elk and ante- 

 lope in 1824, wild birds in 5856. 



The first important concerted effort to control the coyote and wolf 

 in the West was the result of a serious outbreak of rabies, a subject 

 discussed more at length in a preceding chapter on the relation of 

 mammals to disease. In 1919 the Biological Survey, cooperating with 

 the California Board of Health in a campaign against rabies, killed 

 2707 coyotes and 178 wildcats in Modoc and Lassen Counties alone, 

 and during the same period bounties were paid on 1474 coyotes killed 

 by others. 11 In 1917, 23,208 coyotes and 1723 wolves were killed in or 

 near the national forests in 12 states. 12 



In addition to its role as a distributor of rabies, the coyote is one of 

 the hosts of the spotted fever tick 13 and has been found susceptible 

 to tularemia, or rabbit fever. 14 These diseases are serious in certain 

 localities within the western range of the coyote, and the fact that 

 such a widely roving animal as the coyote is an unquestionable carrier 

 of one and an actual or potential carrier of the other two adds to the 

 difficulty of control. 



11 California Fish and Game, in, 120, 1917. 



12 Bailey, Destruction of wolves and coyotes, U. S. Biol. Surv. Circular No. 63, 

 1908. 



13 Birdseye, Some common mammals of western Montana in relation to agricul- 

 ture and spotted fever, Farmers' Bull., No. 484, 1912. 



14 Parker and Francis, The susceptibility of the coyote (Canis lestes) to tulare- 

 mia, Public Health Repts., U. S. Public Health Service, July 9, 1926, pp., 1207-1410. 



