Iv THE HOUND OF THE PLAINS 107 
and Nebraska he is accused of making havoc 
among the domestic poultry, but it is quite likely 
he gets the discredit of many depredations by 
foxes, weasels, and skunks. Similar misdeeds 
were justly charged against him by the farmers 
of Illinois and Wisconsin, when, fifty years ago, 
the prairies of those States were the frontier. 
Two or three times a year, therefore, a general 
holiday would be declared, and a wolf-hunt organ- 
ized, in which volunteers from all the surrounding 
settlements would gather, form a circle miles in 
diameter around the spot to which the game was 
to be driven, and then, systematically marching 
forward, would concentrate until they had cor- 
ralled the animals into a small district. Such 
battues would result in the destruction of great 
numbers not only of prairie-wolves, but also of 
lynxes, polecats, and other “vermin,” and free 
the neighborhood of these pests for that season 
at least, besides being the occasion of a social 
merrymaking rare enough to be keenly enjoyed 
among the frontiersmen. 
Tactics similar to those in coursing a stag upon 
the ice, as already mentioned, are pursued by the 
coyote when he sets his heart upona hare. Alone, 
he could neither overtake nor surprise it.. Two 
wolves assist one another, therefore, one giving 
instant chase while the other squats upon his 
haunches and watches the operation. The runner 
turns the hare in a circle that presently brings it 
