96 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
and coyotes had their usual serenade; but they 
gathered in the depressions between the hills. 
Quickly they adjusted themselves to the new 
conditions, with “Safety first!’ always the de- 
termining factor. 
The coyote has a remarkable voice. It 
gives him a picturesque part. Usually his 
spoken efforts are in the early evening; more 
rarely in early morning. Often a number, in 
a pack or widely separated, will engage in a 
concert. It is a concert of clowns; in it are 
varying and changing voices; all the breaks in 
the evening song are filled with startling ven- 
triloquistic effects. The voice may be thrown in 
many directions and over varying distances at 
once, so that the sounds are multiplied, and the 
efforts of two or three coyotes seem like those 
of a numerous and scattered pack. 
However, the coyote uses his voice for other 
things than pleasure. He has a dialect with 
which he signals his fellows; he warns them of 
dangers and tells of opportunities; he asks for 
information and calls for assistance. He is 
constantly saving himself from danger or se- 
curing his needed food by codperating with his 
fellows. These united efforts are largely pos- 
sible through his ability to express the situation 
with voice and tongue. 
Through repetition a coyote’s signals are oft- 
