BEARS 71 



had already commenced to feed. A search of the vicinity disclosed the 

 presence of a female Black Bear and three cubs. 



The next morning Mr. Wellman visited the place again and found 

 that during the night a larger bear had come and dragged the carcass 

 several yards from where it first lay. Being certain that this new arrival 

 was a veritable Grizzly he rode over to the camp of his friend Jim Duncan,* 

 now long deceased, and got him to come over to help in the hunt. The 

 two men built a scaffold, or platform, 10 feet above the ground and some 

 60 feet from the dead cow. And on this platform watch was kept for the 

 succeeding three nights. One or more black bears and a coyote came to 

 feed, but it was not until the third night that the big bear put in its 

 appearance again. When it did, it happened that three small bears were 

 at the carcass; but these quickly quit the vicinity when the large bear 

 appeared. Finally, the Grizzly caught sight of the scaffold, and made 

 toward it. The two men fired simultaneously and the bear fell to earth 

 with a series of 'bawls,' evidently wounded. The men did not come down 

 until daylight, when the animal was found in some bushes and killed by 

 a shot behind the ear. 



The skin of this bear was sold by Mr. Wellman to the artist, Thomas 

 Hill, and, through the latter 's son-in-law, was procured in 1918 for the 

 University of California. 



Mountain Coyote. Canis latrans lestes Merriam^ 



Field characters. — General appearance that of a large collie dog (pi. 39a) ; head and 

 body about 30 to 33 inches long, tail with hairs 12 to 15 inches; ears pointed, about 

 414 inches (114 mm.) high, habitually carried erect. General coloration gray, or grayish 



4 This is in all probability the same Duncan mentioned by John Muir in the chapter 

 on "The Animals of the Yosemite" in his book, Our National Parks (see Bibliography, 

 p. 667). Muir relates that Duncan, who had quite a reputation locally as a bear hunter, 

 had a cabin on the shore of Crescent Lake. In nine years he had killed no less than 

 49 bears [probably both Black and Grizzly]. He kept count of his killings by "notches 

 cut on one of the timbers of his cabin. ' ' Crescent Lake is but a short distance from 

 Buck Camp, and Duncan was doubtless living there in 1887 when Wellman went to get 

 his assistance. 



5 Our series of specimens, skins and skulls, from the Yos.emite region, serve to demon- 

 strate beyond much doubt that two races of ' mountain ' coyote are represented, a high 

 mountain and Great Basin form, and a foothill form. The Park rangers, and trappers 

 generally, recognize the two, often distinguishing the larger, stouter, and more grayish 

 colored animal under the name ' ' gray wolf. ' ' This is certainly the Canis latrans lestes 

 Merriam. The foothill animal, ranging down the west slope of the Sierras from about 

 the 6000-foot contour nearly to the edge of the San Joaquin Valley, differs from lestes 

 proper, in being of smaller average size, in having brighter color (more reddish) and 

 a lighter built skull, and in certain other cranial characters. The relationship of this 

 foothill form is clearly close to lestes, under which name we place it. Some of the 

 specimens at hand from both El Portal and Yosemite Valley are intermediate in char- 

 acter, indicating that there had been free interbreeding of the animals at about the level 

 where their respective ranges meet. There is likelihood that a third kind, the Valley 

 Coyote, Canis ochropus ochropus Eschscholtz, also occurs in the Yosemite section, at its 

 extreme western end, about Snelling. Unfortunately, we obtained no specimens of coyote 

 out on the plains. This coyote of the open San Joaquin Valley is sharply distinct from 

 either of the races of the Mountain Coyote by reason of its coarser, less furry coat, which 

 is of a light reddish rather than either deep reddish or grayish cast of color. It has 

 much larger ears, a longer slenderer snout, and smaller teeth. 



