224 ‘JACKAL OF THE PRAIRIES.’ 
compromise, I had the best of the bargain, 
I very resolutely took to my heels, glad 
of the opportunity of making a drawn game, 
though I had myself given the challenge. 
There is a small species called the prairie 
wolf on the frontier, and coyote* by the Mexi- 
cans, which is also found in immense num- 
- bers on the Plains. It is rather smaller than 
an ordinary dog, nearly the color of the com- 
mon gray wolf, and though as rapacious as 
the larger kind, it seems too cowardly to at- 
tack stout game. It therefore lives upon the 
remains of buffalo killed by hunters and by 
the large wolves, added to such small game 
as hares, prairie dogs, etc., and even reptiles 
and insects. It will lie for hours beside a 
‘dog-hole, watching for the appearance of 
the little animal, which no bane peeps out 
than the enemy ‘pounces upon it 
_The coyote has been denominated the 
al of the Prairies; indeed, some have 
reckoned it really a species of that animal, 
yet it would seem improperly, as this creature 
* Canis latrans, a distinction to which its a ern omer 
entitles it. Clavigero says of this » © coyote 
eee dicen los Espaiioles, es una fiera pate al “6 en la vo- 
, 4 la zorra en la astucia, al perro en la forma, y e 
iiesginiinles al adive, 6 chacal ; pa rt lo que algunos escritores aya 
lo han numerado entre varias de aquel as especias ; pero 
Tom Eo ao que se diferencia de todas ellas,” etc.—Hist. Ant. de Meg. 
1 as wh sity is observable among us to refer nearly al 
American animals to European — whereas but very few that 
are ris. armed indigenous to this continent, agree in eve icu- 
- lar with those of the Old World. It arom surely have contributed 
wh opm oe of the language, as well as to per- 
the distinctio: of i had we, like the Mexicans, 
ee ae 
