WOLVES AND FOXES 383 
the coyote being the only other animal that looks like it. 
From that it can be distinguished by its larger size, by the 
way it carries its tail, — raised to a horizontal line or a little 
higher, — and, if its call is heard, by the prolonged deep 
bass howl. 
Coyote, Prairie Wolf, Brush Wolf.— Coyotes look very 
much like the Gray Wolf but are smaller, being three feet 
or a little more in length and about twenty inches high at the 
shoulders. Their color 
is generally gray or yel- 
lowish. They inhabit 
the prairies and plains 
from Saskatchewan to 
Mexico, living in bur- 
rows and subsisting on 
rabbits, ground squir- 
rels, birds, and any 
other animal food they 
can find. They are a 
troublesome pest to the 
owners of calves, lambs, 
or even sheep, and a determined war of extermination is being 
waged against them. There is often a bounty upon their life 
the same as in the case of the large wolf. They are quite pro- 
lific, rearing from five to seven puppies a year. They can be 
distinguished from the Gray Wolf by their smaller size, by 
the way they carry their tail, — low down, — and by their 
melancholy howl which consists of a short, quick bark fol- 
lowed by others in quick succession in a rising pitch until 
they merge in a long-drawn wail. This high-pitched yelping 
is most frequent in the evening and at daybreak, but may be 
heard at intervals all through the night. 
CoyvoTE 
