ZOOLOGY. : 113 
sow will at once face the assailant, and start to attack him. 
He allows her to come up within a few feet of him, and then 
moves off slowly ; and she, like a fool, thinking she will catch 
him, continues the chase. While running, he keeps his head 
turned to one side, partly to watch her, and partly to watch 
the pigs; and when he has seduced her far enough away, he 
suddenly makes a dash at the pigs, and, getting one of them, 
runs off with it, leaving the agonized and furious sow far be- 
hind. If the coyote does not succeed in getting a pig at the 
first attempt—that is, if he does not lead the sow far enough 
away—he tries it again and again, till he succeeds, the sow 
being so stupid as to follow him, after having repeated oppor- 
tunities to see his purpose. 
The coyotes frequently go in packs, and sometimes will un- 
dertake to attack a cow. On such occasions, they have a con- 
certed plan of operations: they surround their intended victim, 
and while those in front rush at her as a feint, those behind 
attempt to cut her hamstrings. As their teeth are very sharp, 
they often succeed. The cow’s hamstrings once cut, she falls, 
and is completely at their mercy; and they quickly pick her 
bones. 
The coyote is a great thief, and will steal the pillow from 
under a sleeping man’s head; for it happens in California that 
bags of provisions are often used as pillows. When the coyote 
is hungry, he will gnaw any thing that is greasy, and for that 
reason he frequently cuts off the hemp and raw-hide ropes 
with which horses are tied out at night; but he never bites 
into hair-ropes, which for that reason were formerly used ex- 
clusively for staking out horses. 
The coyote is nocturnal in his habits, and is very fond of 
howling or yelping. He begins with a shrill, quick bark, ana 
follows up with a succession of yelps, ending in a long-drawn, 
quavering, melancholy howl. When one begins, all others 
within hearing take up the cry. Ten years ago, the traveller 
in the Sacramento valley rarely passed a night without hearing 
their music. They are not so numerous now, but still they 
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