178 
THE STORY OF THE COYOTE . 
The shepherds of the prairies and mesas in the: southwestern sections of the 
United States are greatly harassed by coyotes, especially in the lambing 
season. The coyote is fond of lamb, and the younger and tenderer it is the 
better he likes it. The old rams and the goats that accompany every herd of 
sheep are more than a match for the coyote, but the lambs and sometimes the 
young ewes fall easy victims to his claws and fangs. 
In the days when the Western prairies were black with herds of buffaloes, 
the coyotes were always found in great numbers on the outskirts of the herd, 
waiting for a chance to attack some old and decrepit animal driven out by 
the young bulls. They would follow a weak, old buffalo for days, and when 
his strength failed him, so that he was no longer able to defend himself, they 
would rush upon him in large numbers, some at his throat, others at his 
heels, and pull him down, literally eating him alive. 
The coyote is not as shrewd as the wolf in detecting and avoiding poison 
bait, and Western ranchmen have rid the country of thousands of them by 
poisoning the carcasses of dead animals. 
The Mexican coyote has longer legs, a move! slender form, and a more 
fox-like head than its northern cousin, but in habits and instinct they are the 
same. 
I have witnessed many an exciting chase by coyotes after a Jack-rabbit. 
One that I remember was when I was in the hot, dry section of Southern Col¬ 
orado, where the blazing sun had shriveled the Vegetation in the daytime and 
where no' dew falls to revive it at night. I had been in camp several hours and 
was lying in front of my tent watching the big full moon, which in that rarified 
atmosphere looks twice as big and twice as high as it does in the Eastern States, 
when I heard the shrill yelp of a coyote, followed by another and then several 
others. I arose and got my rifle, and just as I came out of my tent a Jack- 
rabbit ran past within fifty yards of me, pursued by seven coyotes. The rabbit 
could have outrun them on a straight line, but they practically had it sur¬ 
rounded when I saw them, and in two hundred yards more they closed in on 
bunny. Inside of two 1 minutes they had torn him to pieces and were fighting 
among themselves. I avenged the rabbit by shooting two of them before they 
scampered off. 
