PRAIRIE WOLF AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 19 



another, much fatter, came in sight. Thinking to make 

 property of both animals, I left the dead one on the 

 ground and sprang off in pursuit of the one last seen. 

 After a cautious chase of about a quarter of a mile, I suc- 

 ceeded in getting a fair shot, and dropped the deer. He 

 was a noble fellow, evidently destroyed in his prime. 

 Shouldering him, I hastened back to the spot where I had 

 left the first deer killed. Not a particle was visible ex- 

 cept some hair ; but at a distance of some hundred yards, 

 a dozen coyotes, or prairie-wolves, were feasting on a 

 lump of something which proved to be the remains of my 

 deer. When I dispersed these cowardly gluttons, I found 

 that a handful of hair was all that was left of it. 



The prairie wolf is an animal of wonderful sagacity. 

 It will follow hunters all day, at less than a hundred 

 yards' distance, stopping when they stop, sitting down 

 quietly when game is killed, rushing to devour the offal 

 when the hunter retires. If a deer or antelope is wounded, 

 the wolves immediately pursue it and sometimes pull the 

 animal down in time for the hunter to come up and rescue 

 it from their ravenous clutches. One day I killed a buck 

 which was so poor that I left the carcass on the ground, 

 as unworthy of the trouble of cutting up. Six small 

 prairie-wolves had attended my excursion that day, and 

 before I had left the deer twenty paces, they had com- 

 menced the work of destruction. About fifteen minutes 



