CARNIVORA 225 



a piece of rawhide, garnished with a few horned toads, lizards and some 

 horse manure suffices for a meal. 23 



Many writers who have studied coyote habits agree upon its effi- 

 ciency as a destroyer of rodents. Grinnell long ago noted that in Mon- 

 tana, jack rabbits were common only where coyotes and wolves were 

 scarce, but others have observed that coyotes and wolves congregate 

 where rabbits are abundant. 24 There can be no doubt that under natural 

 conditions on western plains it did a great deal toward keeping such 

 pests under control, but it was only one of numerous enemies of rod- 

 ents, such as badgers, weasels, hawks, owls, etc. It is also certain that 

 in many localities, following the wholesale destruction of these various 

 enemies, the rodents greatly increased in numbers. However, we must 

 remember that we are not now living under natural conditions. The 

 advent of agriculture has furnished a more abundant food supply and 

 better cover for rodents in many localities, probably increasing their 

 fecundity and average length of life, and many of their enemies have 

 been destroyed, so that the coyote could not keep them in check. Fur- 

 thermore, the advent of stock-raising has made it necessary to thin out 

 the coyotes. This was inevitable. As a result, having so radically dis- 

 turbed the natural balance, we can no longer depend entirely upon 

 natural agencies for protection of crops and stock from their enemies, 

 but must control the situation by artificial means. 26 



While there can be no doubt that predatory mammals are a factor in con- 

 trolling rodents, yet they play but a small part in maintaining the natural 

 balance. Larger factors are involved, and these include seasonal conditions, 

 fecundity of the species, the acts of man in providing abundant food and the 

 presence of natural and other shelter. On the other hand, rodents the size 

 of ground squirrels or smaller are more effectively decreased in numbers by 

 raptorial birds than by predatory mammals. . . . For several years Grant 

 County, Washington, had been let alone by government hunters, as the resi- 

 dents and land owners believed that coyotes were necessary to keep down 

 jack rabbits; but when rabies appeared there among young coyotes and domestic 

 dogs during August, 1921, it was necessary to clean out the coyotes. Hunters 

 were concentrated in this and five adjacent counties and approximately 1800 

 coyotes were taken in the area during the year ending June 30, 1922. At the 

 same time jack rabbits had increased along with the coyotes in such num- 



23 Bailey, N. Atner. Fauna, No. 25, pp. 175-177, 1905. 



24 Grinnell (G.B.), Kept. Chief of Engineers, U. S. Dept. War, 1876, Part 3, 

 p. 639. 



25 Dixon, Control of the coyote in California, Univ. California Coll. Agric. Bull. 

 No. 320, pp. 379-397, 1920; Journ. Mammalogy, n, 176-177, 1921. Goldman, The 

 coyote archpredator, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 325-336, 1930. Henderson (W.C.), 

 The control of the coyote, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 336^362, 1930. 



