Family CANIDAE 119 



the open plains. . . . The most friendly relations subsist between 

 it and the common wolf, and they constantly hunt in packs to- 

 gether. Nothing is more common than to see a Large black wolf 

 in company with several prairie wolves." The actual coyote- 

 wolf relationship is less friendly than indicated above. Coyotes 

 often trail wolves for kills left by the larger animals. 



Signs. — Coyote tracks, fig. 24, cannot be distinguished with 

 certainty from some dog tracks. The print of a hind foot of 

 the coyote commonly measures about 2^ inches long, while 

 that of a front foot is slightly shorter. The register of the tracks 

 of a walking animal is not perfect; the toe marks of each h;nd 

 foot fall at about the center of the track of the front foot on 

 the same side of the body. 



The den of the coyote is usually in a bank or hillside but 

 sometimes in level ground. It commonly has only one entrance, 

 which has a mound of earth in front. Well-worn paths radiate 

 from the entrance and almost invariably lead to one side of the 

 mound rather than over it. 



Distribution. — The coyote occurs in much of Illinois, but it 

 is not common anywhere in the state. Individuals in northern 

 and central Illinois belong to the subspecies Cants latrans 

 thamnos Jackson; those in southern Illinois are presumably 

 referable to C. I. frustror Woodhouse. The range of the spe- 

 cies includes most of western North America (central Alaska 

 almost to Panama) and an eastward extension that continues 

 through most of the Great Lakes region and ends in a narrow 

 area north of the St. Lawrence River. 



CANIS LUPUS (Linnaeus) 

 Timber Wolf Gray Wolf 



Description. — The timber wolf is a large, long-haired animal 

 weighing 75 pounds or more and attaining a length of nearly 

 5}/y feet. The color is usually gray or light gray-brown. The 

 muzzle is heavy and blunt, and the nose pad exceeds 1 1 s inches 

 in diameter. The ears are less pointed than those of the coyote. 



The skull is about 255 mm. ( 10 inches) long, and the teeth are 

 large (half again as large as the corresponding teeth in the 

 coyote) and arranged as in the coyote. 



Distribution. — In the late 1700's and early 1800's, the timber 

 wolf was common in the country that is now Illinois, according 



