The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-09-10

l
 were killed in the four years in which
 the bounty was paid. Now, after .
 lapse of two years, the race is fast
 growing, and, as filters of seven and
 elght coyote pups are common, 1t is
 likely there will be thousands more CO.,
 votes In few years more.
 The coyote Is the Ishmaelite of the
 brute creation in the southwest. The
 hand Of every man is against him
 bret Harte speaks of him:
 A shade on the stubble, ghost by the 1 wall,
 NOW leaping, now limping. now risklng
 fall,
 Lop-eared and large jointed, but ever
 alway
 A thoroughly vagabond outcast in gray. | He is characteristic part of the
 landscape of the plains and foothills of
 the arid region of the southwest, Eve
 ry one knows him, and his name is the
 synonym of all that is mean and deceit
 tul and sneaking in nature. To call a
 plalnsman or cowboy a coyote is to
 give an Insult that is vigorously resent ca, sometimes by pistol balls. Indian
 Iolkiore abounds in tales of the wari-
 ness and sagacity of the coyote. The coyote Is usually very lean, has long,
 slender saout and bushy tail, and looks very much like a wolf, to which family,
 In fact, he belongs. His fur is lighter colored in winter than in summer, being
 Tn the former season grizzly gray, with
 black streaks on the back, hips and
 shoulders, and tawny ones along the
 legs The under side of the body is dingy white.
 The coyote (canis latrans) is one of
 the most curieusly interesting beasts on earth-and one of the least under stood. In size and shape he resembles lean and long Irish setter. He is a mixture of wolf, dog and fox. His Wolflsh nature is seen in his shape, pelt ana teeth; his head and eyes are those or dog, and his instinct that of the IoX lie has none of the Wolf's ferocity, ana all the stories of attacks by bands or coyotes on human beings are TO- mances. The cranial arch in his skull IS oy no means so strong as that in the common wolf. The fur of the coyote ana the gray wolf resemble each other. The habitat of the coyote practically corresponds with the area discovered by the Spanish in North America-that Is, Mexico and the great southwest and the arid plains. His name is of Aztec origin, and is pronounced "ki-o-ty." Its original form was undoubtedly "co- yotl,' and was altered in the days of the conquistadores, about 1850. The beast was popularly known until generation ago as the prairie wolf, and few dictionaries so describe him even urtita woven many an unnatural romance about the terrors of pack of coyotes about the lonely cabin on the plains of the southwest, and have repeatedly told with thrilling effect how prairie wolves" have devoured whole families of settlers among the canons and foot hills. But all that is absurd to people living in this region.
 The coyotes vocal talents are first to command notice. Every one who has any experience on the plains of the southwest has heard 1t. He never raises his voice between sunrise and sunset. The Indians call him ven- triloquist, for he can so place his voice that even the oldest plainsmen cannot tell whether the howls come from east, west, north or south. There Is no sound more weird, startling or baff1ing than that from the throat of healthy and hungry coyote It IS an indescrib- able medley of vail, shriek bark, whine and groan, and the rapidity of the sounds and the glfbness of the altera- tions in key are we'll nigh incredible. His howl cannot in any way be com pared with the long, rasping cry of the wolf or the bronchial bark of the dog. Then, too, no other animal, in this | country at least, can be heard so far as the coyote. Hundreds of stories are told by soldiers and platnsmen in the | southwest, who say they have heard a | single coyote howl three miles, The | sounds are so sharp that they are easi- | ly carried
 The many and extremely rapid varia- tions of sound of the coyotes howl are Nearly every one who has been among the ranches in the south- west has some funny experience to mar rate of how he was sure there was a pack of scores of hungry coyotes how'll ng at night all about the premises, and then how it was proved beyond all loubt that the multitude of noises con- ng seemingly from all four points of he compass at once were made by a single beast. Every army garrison In | he southwetst has its quota of stories # soldiers, just transferred from the ,ast, who have been frightened while 'n night picket duty by what they were certain was a pack of ferocious wolves full upon them, when there were n fact only two or three of the animals rowling for pleasure, as if on a ssre- lade
 "I we'll remember" said Colonel T. ". Brooks of this place the other day. the first time l heard a coyote howl, t was in the Apache campaign in 1875. We were bivouacked in an aIkau plain. lmost within sight of a camp of two housand bloodthirsty Apaches in Ari- ona. I was out for stroll in the dark, mok1ng cigar, and wondering what he outcome of the fight the next morn ng would be. Suddenly there came rom about five hundred yards back of ne, although it seemed much nearer. a accession of the most awful shrieks. arks, howls and cries. stood trans xec. The sounds came thick and fast. nd finally ended in long howl. the 1ost dismal I have ever heard. Then , ne noise stopped, but before I could re- over breath it began again in the same 'ay as before, only louder and in a , lore wailing tone, until it seemed as if chorus of Apache fiends were lament lg the invasion of their boun+, h1, +h.