100 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP, 
Such is the coyote: genus Joct of the plains: 
an Ishmaelite of the desert: consort of rattlesnake 
and vulture: the tyrant of his inferiors: the jackal 
of the puma: once a hanger-on upon the flanks 
of the buffalo herds, and now the pest of the 
cattlemen and sheep herders: the pariah of his own 
race, and despised by mankind. 
Withal, he maintains himself, and his tribe in- 
creases. He outstrips animals fleeter than him- 
self. He foils those of far greater strength than 
his own. He excels all rivals in cunning and in- 
telligence. He furnishes the Indian with a breed 
of domestic dogs, and makes an interesting exhibit 
in menageries and trick-shows. 
The coyote is little known at present east of the 
bunch-grass plains. In early days, however, he 
was common enough in the open country of Ar- 
kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and northward, whence 
he received the names “ prairie-wolf,” “red” and 
“barking” wolf. Threading the passes regardless 
of altitude, he wanders among all the foothills of 
the complicated mountain-system that forms the 
“crest of the continent,” and dwells too plentifully 
in the Californian valleys, thriving upon what he 
can pilfer from the ranch-yards and corrals, and 
on the young calves or lambs that he is now and 
then able to steal from the flock. Hence he there 
passes his life continually on guard against guns, 
traps, and poison. 
In the United States and the Canadian North- 
