156 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



of efficiency and the attainment of that which 

 is dearest to the heart of all living creatures — 

 the continuance of life. The law of self-preser- 

 vation is written deep upon the mind. Its bio- 

 logical significance is great. What animal has 

 been able, like the coyote, to baffle hunters and 

 trappers and preserve its kind under conditions 

 so wretched? Except in the most civilized parts 

 of his old range he still seems almost as plenti- 

 ful as ever, and his dismal barking serenades 

 may still be heard at night in the foothills and 

 plains as of old. During a series of seasons when 

 high prices for pelts prevail, he is much reduced 

 in numbers (during one winter recently when 

 skins brought as high as ten and twenty 

 dollars apiece, over four hundred skins were 

 taken out of the Searles Lake region on the 

 Mohave Desert alone), but as soon as prices 

 drop again and trapping ceases, the loss is 

 quickly replenished. 



The most serious disease to which coyotes are 

 subject is hydrophobia. When once they get it, 

 the consequences are always serious, especially 

 to man. In their mad wanderings over wide dis- 

 tricts they bite skunks, dogs, cattle, and other 



