DESERT ANIMALS 



169 



But he does not win his living by his courage. 

 His special gift is not the muscular energy that 

 crushes at a blow ; nor the great strength that 

 follows and tires and finally drags down. Nat- 

 ure designed him with the wolf form and in- 

 stinct, but gave him something of the clever- 

 ness of the fox. It is by cunning and an 

 obliging stomach that the coyote is enabled to 

 eke out a living. He is cunning enough to 

 know, for instance, that you cannot see him on 

 a desert background as long as he does not 

 move ; so he sits still at times for many min- 

 utes, watching you from some little knoll. As 

 long as he is motionless your eyes pass over him 

 as a patch of sand or a weathered rock. When 

 he starts to move, it is with some deliberation. 

 He prefers a dog-trot and often several shots 

 from your rifle will not stir him into a run. He 

 slips along easily and gracefully — a lean, hungry- 

 looking wretch with all the insolence of a hood- 

 lum and all the shrewdness of a thief. He re- 

 quires just such qualities together with a keen 

 nose, good eyes and ears, and some swiftness of 

 dash to make a living. The desert bill of fare 

 is not all that a wolf could desire ; but the coyote 

 is not very particular. Everything is food that 

 comes to his jaws. He likes rabbit meat, but 



Cleverness 

 of the 

 coyote. 



