IV 
THE HOUND OF THE PLAINS 
A PicTuRE of the Great Plains is incomplete 
without a coyote or two hurrying furtively through 
the distance. The coyote is a wolf, about two- 
thirds the size of the well-known European species 
represented in North America by the big gray or 
timber-wolf. He has a long lean body, legs a 
trifle short, but sinewy and active; a head more 
fox-like than wolfish, for the nose is long and 
pointed; yellow eyes set in spectacle-frames of 
black eyelids; and hanging, tan-trimmed ears 
that may be erected, giving a well-merited air of 
alertness to their wearer; a tail (straight as a 
pointer’s) also fox-like, for it is bushy beyond the 
ordinary lupine type; and a shaggy, large-maned, 
wind-ruffled, dust-gathering coat of dingy white, 
suffused with tawny brown, or often decidedly 
brindled. 
“Blown out of the prairie in twilight and dew, 
Half bold and half timid, yet lazy all through, 
* * * * * 
Lop-eared and large-jointed, but ever, alway, 
A thoroughly vagabond outcast in gray.” 
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