ZOOLOGY. Ill 



these species. Some make four species: two Zctrgre or monntain wolves, and two small or coyotes. 

 The mountain kinds are the black (probably Canis mtUliis) and the red, (most likely the Cams 

 ocddentalis, which frequently is tinged with ferruginous.) Whether the '^ black wolves" are 

 black, I consider doubtful. Settlers, however, have positively assured mo that they have seen 

 wolves ^^ perfectly black.'' Frequently the black hairs on the back of the Canis occidentalis, 

 seen from a distance, may, in certain reflections, cause the animal to have a general dark or 

 black appearance. This would be the case with the wolf having such a skin as the one in my 

 collection marked 47. 



A few memoranda concerning this species, made in connexion with the skin last mentioned, 

 (47,) may be found in my partial report, chap. 2, p. 90. They are exceedingly numerous in 

 Oregon and Washington Territories, from the Cascades to the Rocky mountain divide, and 

 probably extend much further north, east, and south. They are sparingly found west of the 

 Cascades, occurring, according to Mr. Gibbs, on the Clatsop Plains, and have been obtained 

 by me from the elevated plateau at the western base of the Cascade mountains, upon which 

 Muckleshoot prairie is situated. — S. 



CANIS OCCIDENTALIS, var. NUBILUS. 



Dasky Wolf. 



Baikd, Geu. Kep. Mammals, 1857, 111. 



[For synonymy and specific characters see work last quoted; also chap. 2, p. 90.] 

 The skin obtained by me of this species (or variety?) was from the Nisqually Plains. 

 Formerly this wolf was quite abundant in that vicinity, much to the detriment of the sheep of 

 the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, but, of late years, owing to the persuasive influence 

 of strychnine, they, together with the wolf-like Indian dogs, have become quite scarce. — S. 



CANIS LATRANS, Say. 

 Prairie Wolf; Coyote. 



Baird, Gen. Eep. Mammals, 1857, 113. 



Coyotes, apparently identical with the prairie wolf of the plains on the Platte river, I saw 

 in great numbers in Scott's valley in 1851. I also shot one high up in the mountains of Eel 

 river, in California, far from the coast; and in 1854 I again met with them in the Yakima valley, 

 in Washington Territory, north of the Columbia and east of the Cascade mountains. The 

 Chinooks call it Italipus, and believe it to be a sort of demon or deity. — G. 



The coTjote is common in central Oregon, where it subsists on small game, carrion, &c., but, 

 on the vast desert plains of the interior, more especially upon the dead salmon washed up on 

 the shores of the rivers and streams. At Fort Dalles they are very numerous. There, in 

 1854, an individual, apparently mbid, entered a stable and bit a horse in the nose. The horse 

 was, in a short time, taken with every symptom of hydrophobia, and in a few days died. In 

 1853, during the small-pox epidemic among the tribes north of the Columbia, the natives, 

 frightened, left their dead unburied. These were devoured by the coyotes, who shortly became 

 afflicted with a terrible skin disease, in which the hair fell ofl^, and the whole surface of the 

 body became covered by scabs and putrid sores, which, irritated by the sun, wind, and sand, 

 were a dreadful annoyance to the miserable brutes, who undoubtedly perished in great numbers. 



The double voice of the coyote, by which one single individual can make noises as if several 

 are barking or yelping at once, is a singular peculiarity, which is well known to mountain men. — S. 



