Jan. 2, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
TRADE RATS AND COYOTES. 
BY FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. 
One of the animals one hears most about in the San 
Francisco Mountain region of Arizona is the "trade rat," 
an original character noted for strong commercial pro- 
clivities. His one idea of happiness seems to be to trade. 
He helps himself to whatever takes his fancy, provided it 
is not too big for him to handle, but with scrupulous hon- 
esty he brings back something to replace it. From some 
points of view his trades may not be quite fair, but they 
seem to satisfy the conscience of the rat. The log house 
where I boarded during the summer had an outdoor cel- 
lar excavated in the side of the hill a few rods away, and 
almost every day when the ranchman's wife went out 
there she found freshly cut goldenrod or lupin blossoms 
scattered on the cellar floor, a spray here and a spray 
there, brought in trade for such useless articles as a lemon, 
or the cord by which the butter pail was hung. Some- 
times the rata come into the house at night and carry off 
towels and socks, replacing them with valuable pine chips 
and cones. 
The ranchman thought they had no object in their col- 
lections, but traded just for mischief, and brought in any- 
thing that was handy for them, although he considered 
them "partial to lupins when they make their trades." 
He once took up a floor and found the whole space be- 
tween the ground and the board i — a space 6in, to 12in. 
deep, imder a room 14ft. square — ^filled 
in tight withvlupin. He told me of his 
surprise, 
"I took up one board and found 
quite a wad of it," he said, as he sat 
down beside the kitchen stove. 
"I didn't expect to find any more, 
but as I took up the boards I found it 
covered the whole floor, packed in 
tight between the joists and close up 
to the floor; you couldn't have wad- 
ded ic in there as tight with your 
hands; there was all as much as a 
good sized haycock, over lOOlbs. of 
good cured hay lupins, not disturbed, 
no leaves eaten off. I didn't see them 
at it, but I know it was their work. 
They might have put it in to eat 
and then been ketohed," he con- 
cluded. While the rats were storing 
lupins under the floor they came into 
the cabin and piled the fireplace full 
of trash — chips, cones, papers and rags 
— carrying away beans, blocks of 
matches and whatever lay around in 
the bunks — even old suependers and 
buttons. At night he could hear them 
''come draggin' those weeds across the 
ceiling." 
In the camps of the men who were 
chopping railroad ties — the tie chop- 
pers' camps — the ranchman had often ' 
seen the rats. Ha said: ^ 
"I've seen them sneak in. They're ; 
cunning and sly. They'd come and 
lay down what they had in their '-^ - 
mouths and look around to recon- 
noiter. They have a very intelligent 
look when they come to look around, 
and if they thought their way was 
clear they'd grab up what they had 
and run. Sometimes they'd cruise round the boxes. 
They'd carry out anything except what they'd brought 
in— a darning needle with thread in it, spools of thread, 
bits of candle, pipes, pens, and I've found a package of 
coffee out in the middle of the room and could see where 
they had hold of it with their teeth. 
"During the time they were annoying us so much they 
were making a pile down in the bottom of the cupboard — 
chips, stems of dry weeds and twine. "We had nothing 
in the cabin they'd eat, you know; they did it just for 
mischief. They'd just come to ransack round and carry 
away trinkets. They took a pack olE cards and put it 
among their trash, 
"They never destroyed books or papers and never 
injured anything in any way— just piled it up. Same- 
times they'd make a pile as big as a bushel basket — pile it 
up in a heap. They'll take anything they can carry when 
they get one of their trading streaks." 
The rats seem to be particularly fond of anything that 
glistens, such as nails, razors and spoons. One of the 
ranch women told me she had found nearly 200 bright 
metal cartridges up in the hay mow, where the rats had 
deposited them in a mat of cotton and gunnysack. She 
spoke of their habit of moving things. One of her 
friends had been kept awake nights by their trundling 
the lindlings from one part of the floor to another, and a 
Colorado woman she had known had had a whole baking 
of cookies carried from the kitchen table up on the can- 
vas that was stretched under the peak of the roof. 
Wood rat is another name for trade rat, and the kind 
we had about the mountain does not occur outside of the 
the timber. ).n the cedar woods our farmer had found 
rats' piles made of dry cedar boughs, cedar bark, Spanish 
daggers, handsful of juniper berries and pinon cones, and 
assured me that "they never miss a cone of any kind." A 
Texas neighbor told me he had seen nests of the desert rat 
made of cactus and Spanish bayonets. 
Trade rats, rabbits, prairie dogs, badgers and antelope 
were the only mammals I saw while at Mount Wing 
Ranch; but coyotes had been plenty in the neighborhood a 
few years before. The farmer's wife told me she had 
heard the dogs barking at dusk one night, and on 
going to the door found three wolves standing by the barn. 
The ranchman came in while his wife was talking, and 
broke in: 
"They used to come round here and howl — they'd 
set up cackling like an old hen, and just bark and 
bark. To hear one you'd think there was a whole drove 
of them. They are great for makin' a noise— barkin', 
especially before a storm and during a storm." 
When I asked if they had ever done any harm, as farm 
work was not pressing that morning, the ranchman took 
off his hat and sat down good-naturedly to tell me what he 
could remember of his experiences with the wolves. He 
began: 
"We used to miss our pigs when they were a month or 
six weeks old, and one day when I was carrying on the 
piling business I come out to the ranch and the hogs were 
up here, and I rode along, and as I got on to the rise 
where that black stump is," pointing out of the window 
toward the pasture fence, "I saw one of the old hogs chase 
a coyote, I thought it was a dog first, and stopped to 
see. Then I saw another coyote and the other hog after 
him." 
Two coyotes commonly work together, it is said, one to 
decoy the guardian of the young while the other does the 
stealing. 
"The little pigs was scart," the ranchman went on, 
"and they stood themselves up in a little pyramid pile 
while the old hogs was chasing the coyotes away. One 
coyote would come up and the hog would chase him, but 
the coyote would keep a-going to get the hog away from 
the pigs; bother and tease him to get him away. The 
other coyote would be dodgin' round close where the 
pigs were. Then the coyote that was furthest off he run 
and skipped by his hog and run as fast as he could for the 
pile of pigs and got one. By the time the wolves killed 
the pig, the old hogs were back after them, but they 
maneuvered round till one got the pig and dragged it 
off, Then the old hogs went after the other little pigs 
and took them to the hill." 
"Have you ever seen the wolves chase a calf?" I asked 
the ranchman. 
"Seen them?" he ejaculated. "I've seen them right 
there on that flat," pointing to the meadow below the 
house. 
"There were two coyotes and a cow and a calf. The 
AT CHIPMUNK LODGE. Photo by DiBg. W. F. Robinson, 
coyotes would both rush up together and the cow would 
take after one and he'd run off, and while she was chas- 
ing that one the other one would slip up and kill the calf. 
If a coyote attacks one cow with a calf, when she sets up 
a-bawlin' all the cows within sight or hearing will come to 
the rescue, ^11 bawlin' and bellerin' to drive you crazy." 
The cowboys are greatly trouble i by coyotes and the 
farmer explained the reason by saying: "You know the 
cowboys here take a cow's hide and slit it up into strips 
and twist up a lariat for lassoing, and put a drag hon- 
doo — a block of rawhide or wood — on the end. They 
picketed their horses out with them years ago when 
things was new, and often had their horses cut loose at 
night. The coyotes never bother rope, but I've seen raw- 
hide lariats cut up into short pieces by them as slick and 
smooth as if cut with a knife. Everybody always looks 
out for his lariats when they are off on the ranges. A 
coyote would stlp right up and cut them, I've been told 
of it by a great many horse men and have heard of it out 
in the deserts here." 
"They're a sneakin' animal," the ranchman declared, 
stroking his beard, and then went on to tell his experi- 
ences around the sheep camps. "If they get round the 
bed ground the sheep will bunch up. I had a bunch of 
sheep, about 2,400, on the desert near the Grand Canon. 
The coyotes was thick there. You could hear them bark- 
in' in every direction, such gangs of them all barking and 
howling at the same time. On a dark night like this 
they'd make night hideous. We were doctor in' the sheep 
for the scab, and had them all in a corral, and at night 
could hear them surging back and forth from one side to 
the other. The sheep men say coyotes never get inside a 
corral to get the sheep, but get close to the outside. 
When they get inside an inclosure they haven't much 
show to get out with anything — they're a sensible animal. 
But they're awful bold in the daytime when the sheep are 
out in the herd. They'll run up to one and cut its throat. 
Then there's a grand scatterin'," he concluded, as he 
reached for his hat and went out to hitch the bucking 
broncho. 
[There are people who have grave doubts about the 
honesty of the trade rat, and this doubt expresses itself in 
one of the names given to the animal— camp robber. 
Other names are mountain rat and bush-tailed rat. In 
the Rocky Mountains this species is regarded with deep 
hatred on account of its trading or stealing proclivities. 
It will take anything, from a cartridge — as Miss Merriam 
says— to a butcher knife, from a needle to a tin plate. 
When a family of these animals take up their abode in a 
house, the practice of the ranchman is to stop work and 
hunt them until he has killed them all,] 
Tfie FoHEST AND Stekam ia put to press each votele on Tuesday 
Correspondence intended for publication should rectch ua at the 
latest bv Monday, and as much earlier as practicable. 
RANGE OF THE PRONGHORN 
ANTELOPE IN 1896. 
In response to my request to readers of Forest and 
Stream for notes on the Jdistribution of the pronghorn 
antelope, which was printed in Forest and Stream of 
Oct. 3 with a provisional map, I have received a number 
of letters which add several localities to those earlier 
given, and extend the range of this species beyond what 
I gave it on the west and on the south. I bring up the 
matter again at this time in order to thank my corre- 
spondents for their kindness, to print the revised map, 
and to repeat my request to readers of Forest and 
Stream to send me any notes on the range of the prong- 
horn. 
Prof. L, V. Pirsson, of Yale University, in 1896 ob- 
served antelope along the stage road between Fort Benton 
and Lewistown, Mont., and about ten miles out and south 
from Fort Benton in the open country between Fort Ben- 
ton and the Highwood Mountains. These antelope stood 
quietly and watched the passing of the stage at about 75 
or 100yds. A tame antelope was seen at a ranch on the 
south side of Judith Mountains, not far from Fort McGin- 
nis. He was caught in that country and reared there. 
There are still a considerable number of antelope in that 
country east of Cone Butte and Black Butte, and they 
were hunted there this summer. The animals spoken of 
as seen were observed in July and August, 1898. In 1894 
antelope were seen by Prof. Pirsson in the open broken 
country south of the Highwood Mountains and in the bad 
lands of Arrow Creek. There are no doubt still some 
there. In 1893 antelope were seen in the open country 
between the South Fork of Smith River 
and the head of Shield's River, a trib- 
utary of the Yellowstone. 
Prof. Pirsson concludes by stating 
that "In the central part of Montana, 
namely the Judith Basin country and 
contiguous parts, the antelope still has 
a wide but very sparse distribution. 
They are not very plenty anywhere, 
and travel a good deal. The general 
sentiment of the cattle men is against 
killing them, and I am inclined to be- 
lieve that it will be some time before 
they are entirely exterminated there." 
Mr. C. L. Herrick, in reply to an 
inquiry from me asking him for de- 
tails concerning a statement made in 
a paper which he published in 1892 
in the Bulletin of the Minnesota Geo- 
logical Survey, in which he stated 
that the antelope formerly occurred 
in southwestern Minnesota, very 
kindly wrote me as follows: "I can 
only say that during a personal ex- 
amination of the southwestern part 
of Minnesota in 1886 or so I found 
settlers agreed that the antelope form- 
erly ranged considerably east of the 
Big Stone Lake region, and probably 
, nearly to Lake Shetek. I have no 
data and cannot at this distance of 
I time and place refer to the person 
from whom the information was re- 
i ceived." Lake Shetek is in Murray 
i county and not more than forty miles 
— from the boundary line between Iowa 
and Minnesota, If the antelope ever 
actually ranged as far as Lake Shetek 
on that parallel, it is altogether prob- 
able that at the same time they were 
found in Iowa as well. 
As against this, however, I may quote paragraphs 
written me by Mr, Orin Belknap, of the State of Wash- 
ington, in which he says: "My father moved to Potta- 
wottamie county, Iowa, twenty-five miles east of Council 
Bluffs, in the spring of 1854, forty-two years since. No 
trace or tradition of the antelope was ever found by us at 
any point east of the Missouri River, and I am inclined to 
doubt their existence at any point in Iowa. I remember 
very distinctly how the starch was taken out of my boy- 
ish ambition when, Tom Sawyer like, I struck a boy from 
Council Bluffs who coolly informed me that across the 
Missouri, in Nebraska, where he had hunted with his 
uncle, there were animals entirely different from the 
deer, called antelope, harder to hunt, swifter, had to be 
flagged, etc. 
"Another thing, too, you will remember, the grass on 
the Iowa prairies was double the height of buffalo grass 
on the Nebraska plains, and the antelope never seemed to 
like the tall grass. Of course there is a tradition that 
buffalo grass once grew on the right bank of the Missis- 
sippi, and if this is true it is quite probable that the prong- 
horn flourished there; but that must have been long ere 
my time." 
Inquiry among two or three people who traveled across 
Iowa in 1855 shows that they have no memory of having 
seen antelope, and the question of their existence in 
Iowa must be left doubtful until further evidence is ob- 
tained. 
Mr. W. R. Hall, of Nebraska, has kindly given me 
some notes in regard to the existence in northeastern Col- 
orado and western Nebraska of the antelope at the present 
time. He sends me a marked map and says, "That they 
are still ranging around the cross marked in northeastern 
Colorado, I had ocular proof no later than May this 
year, having seen two bunches, one of six, the other of 
nine. Those of northwest Nebraska I have not seen 
lately, but have information from sources which I con- 
sider as reliable that they are still there. It is estimated 
that there are in the neighborhood of 200 in this section," 
Mr, C. W. Evers, of Ohio, advises me that he saw ante- 
lope during the month of February, 1896, in Texas, in the 
western part of Pecos county. This carries the range 
about two degrees of latitude further south than shown 
on the first map. Mr. Evers says, "First we saw about 
daybreak from the train a single individual, a large buck. 
He ran near the train in fleeing, and but for his white 
hips and the peculiar jump or canter I should have al- 
most been deceived into the belief that it was a deer in 
the misty morning gray. A passenger fired a revolver 
from the window, and the brute changed its course at 
once. Ten miles or so further on I saw far away a bunch 
of seven antelope near the foot , of a bluff. These also 
took to their heels at the report of a revolver, and their 
bobbing white sterns reminded me of other days on the 
Little Missouri in Dakota." 
