Trail and Camp-Fire 



unconcerned and impudent. They will bark 

 at you from a nearby hilltop, or trot a few 

 paces from the trail you are following, and lie 

 down and yawn as you ride by with an assump- 

 tion of being bored that would be aggravating 

 if it were not so comical. 



Their impudence shows itself sometimes in 

 their daring to tease the big wolves, whose 

 power one would think should protect them 

 from such attacks. A pair of coyotes were 

 seen one winter not long ago, on a big piece 

 of ice, engaged in bothering a gray wolf. The 

 ice was slippery, and they could get started and 

 could turn much more quickly than their larger 

 cousin. One of them would dance in front 

 of him and annoy him, while the other ran 

 by from behind and nipped him as it went 

 past. Then the big wolf would try to turn and 

 chase the little one, but he would slip, and be- 

 fore he fairly got started would get a nip from 

 the other. So they worried him for a long 

 time in fact, until the observer tired of look- 

 ing at them, and rode away. 



To my mind the coyote is a much more in- 

 teresting animal than the gray wolf, and I 

 believe that on account of his greater abun- 

 dance and his far greater intelligence he does 



202 



