76 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YO SEMITE 



The choriLS may, in reality, be the product of but one individual, whose 

 intonations are such as to give the effect of two or even more voices heard 

 simultaneously. We are unable to give any conclusive statement in this 

 regard. 



The food of the Mountain Coyote includes a w^ide variety of items, 

 some of which have been alluded to in the preceding paragraphs. Usually, 

 little knowledge of the coyote's food habits can be obtained by direct 

 observation, as the animals do much of their hunting and feeding during 

 the night. Even persons whose business keeps them out of doors much 

 of the time in good coyote country do not often see a coyote actually eating. 

 Our evidence, therefore, is, much of it, indirect. By far the greatest 

 amount of data now at hand has been obtained by examining faeces (drop- 

 pings). The hair and bones of mammals, the feathers of birds, and the 

 seeds of plants are often recognizable in the droppings of the animal, and 

 in many instances they may be identified even as to the species. 



The droppings of a Mountain Coyote found in a trail at the head of 

 Yosemite Creek basin on October 9, 1915, contained the forepaws of a 

 Sierra Nevada Pocket Gopher (Thotnomys monticola monticola) , jaws, 

 other bones, and hair of an adult and an immature Gambel White-footed 

 Mouse (Pei'omyscus mmiicidatus gamheli), hair of the California Ground 

 Squirrel (Citellus hcecheyi heecheyi), and hair of the Kocky Mountain 

 Mule Deer (Odocoileiis hemionus hemionus). Another lot contained what 

 appeared to be hair of the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. A third lot 

 of faeces, collected near Dudley on August 9, 1920, consisted almost entirely 

 of seeds from manzanita berries (Arctostaphylos mariposa). 



Deer hair is commonly found in the droppings of the Mountain Coyote, 

 but this fact does not necessarily mean that coyotes themselves regularly 

 kill deer. On the contrary, it is likely that much of the coyote's venison 

 comes from carcasses of deer killed and left cached by the Mountain Lion. 

 Ranger Townsley has told us that on April 11, 1916, near Grouse Creek, 

 he came upon two Mountain Coyotes circling the carcass of a deer which 

 had been killed by a Mountain Lion, and that they were evidently about 

 to feed on the deer when frightened off by shots. However, the coyote 

 is known to have pursued and killed deer. Young does and fawns are 

 probably the ones most often obtained in this way. When, in early winter, 

 the deer are overtaken by a fall of snow more than a foot in depth, progress 

 for them becomes difficult; they may be more easily and successfully run 

 down l)y coyotes then than in llie summer. 



