CANID^ 215 



a short howl, but no one familiar with the howl of the gray wolf 

 would call the Coyotes song a howl. To me the barking of a 

 Coyote at a little distance is a pleasant sound, probably because of 

 its association with the memory of many a camping trip in plain 

 and desert. Coyotes never attack human beings, and one need be 

 no more afraid of them than of a hare or a foK. Baird says that 

 Coyotes sometimes have as many as ten young in a litter and that 

 they are born in April. I have no other data at hand, but my im- 

 pression is that the number is generally much smaller and that 

 they are born in March and May ateo. 



Canis estor Merriam. (Eater.) 



DESERT COYOTE. 



Similar to ochropus but paler; buffy gray above grizzled 

 with black ; skull shorter and wider and teeth rather heavier. 



Length about 1060 mm. (42 inches) ; tail vertebrae 300 

 (12) ; hind foot 180 (7.10) ; ear from crown 125 (5). Female 

 smaller. 



Type locality, San Juan River, southeastern Utah. 



Desert Coyotes are common from the eastern slope of the 

 Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino Mountains east to the south- 

 ern Rocky Mountains, and in southern California. Their ha,bits 

 are similar to those of the preceding species. 



Canis lestes Merriam. (Robber.) 



MOUNTAIN COYOTE. 



Similar to ochropus but larger and somewhat paler; ears 

 smaller; tail broadly tipped with black; skull larg-er and heavier 

 with nose much broader; teeth larger. 



Length about 1 170 mm. (46 inches) ; tail vertebrae 320 

 ( 12.60) ; hind foot 200 (7.85). Female smaller. 



Type locality, Toyabe Mountains, centrali Nevada. 



Mountain Coyotes are found in the higher mountains of 

 northern California, in the Sierra Nevada and in the mountains 



