MAMMALS— CANIDJD— C A NIS LATEANS. 49 



"The Coyote appears more stoutly built, but this is deceptive, owing to 

 the dense furring ; the various girths show the contrary. It is, however, 

 somewhat more ' compact ', the limbs lacking a certain freedom of swing, if 

 not being slightly shorter. 



"It would not be much to the point to compare the pelages, since the 

 cultivated coat of the pointer differs quite as much from the shaggy one of 

 numerous other dogs as from that of the Coyote. It is interesting to observe, 

 however, that even the closest-haired pointer shows in anger a slight though 

 decided ' mane'. The mane of the Coyote is very conspicuous ; the longest 

 hairs over the back measuring four to six inches. The furring of the tail is 

 as extremely diverse. The tail of a Coyote' ordinarily droops to the suffrago; 

 the hairs reaching beyond half-way to the heels. It is perfectly straight. 

 The 'brush' is terete-tapering, perhaps not quite so full for its length as that 

 of a fox ; in absolute size, it is just intermediate between that of a Vulpes 

 velox and V. macrurus, both of which are smaller animals. But, furring 

 aside, we find, in the total lack of curve in the thorough-bred pointer's tail, 

 a curious coincidence, if nothing more. This straightness, prized by sports- 

 men, the result of breeding, and often cruelly insured by removal of the 

 terminal joints, so that some of the tendons lose insertion, is a feature in 

 which the pointer departs from most dogs (the curly tail has been laid 

 down as a specific characteristic of ' Canis familiaris '), and resumes that of 

 the Coyote\ 



" Fortuitous conditions of pelage aside, the physiognomy, an almost 

 equally casual matter, is the most striking difference between the two. It 

 is difficult to portray an animal's facial expression in words ; in this case, we 

 can hardly do better than to say that the aspect is just between a wolf's and 

 a fox's, but more ' doggy ' than either. Audubon's figure is good ; if any- 

 thing, the front view of the upper figure is too ' foxy '. The Coyote's face 

 would be exactly matched by that of many cur-dogs, especially slender- 

 nosed kinds, did it not lack almost entirely the frontal prominence of the 

 latter ; a feature which, in some kinds of lap-dogs, is exaggerated into 

 monstrosity. 



" The upper profile of the Coyote's lace, from occiput to snout, deviates 



not much from a straight line ; the forehead being remarkably flat. This 

 4 z 



