The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-07
rnE hRrFUL COYOTE
Musical Performance by an Animated Col
lection Of Bad Qunllties.

= - " -
lection Of Bad Qualities.
CHICAGO, Aug. 8.-what Is a coyote1 A
coyote IL a little animal Of the wolf species that
inhabits the foothills OF the Rocky Mountains.
He is about eighteen inches high and long In
proportion. and Is the embodiment OF duplicity.
His color is indescribable. He 10 neither white
nor black nor yellow, nor any other well-dehned
color: but a sort of blending OF all. producing a
hue that can best be described as coyote. He
is not beautiful either In appearance or char
acter. There Is nothing attractive about him.
He is not troubled with conscientious scruples;
neither is he brave. and he won't fight unless
he is compelled to. He is a scrub wolf In every
sense OF the word.
His physical beauty is about on a par with
his moral aspect. He has q little.' peaked
shaped head, In the front OF which, very close
together, is a pair Of the brightest. blacklist,
wiekedest little eyes that ever shone In the
moonlight. He does not appear to be possessed
Of any great amount OF brains; but there is
moro unadulterated cunning wrapped up In his
hide than can be found In the same amount Of
space anywhere else In creation. The man
who imagines that a coyote does not under
stand his business Just because he has not a
high forehead will soon learn that the princi-
pies OF phrenology do not apply to this epltome
OF everything that Is smart, ~rascally. tricky
and impudent.
In regard to his ability to get over ground. in
other words. to change his spots. too much can
not be said. It is a good deal like the wind.
You cannot tell whence he cometh nor whittier
he goeth. When he makes up his mind to
place q certain amount OF space between him
self and a given locality. he does not stand on
the order Of going. He does not run In the
common acceptation Of the term. but he sud-
denly transforms himself into a dimly defined
streak of gray light that shimmers across the
landscape for an instant and then sinks into
oblivion. so far as mortal view is concerned.
He Is seldom seen In the daytime. The glare
OF the sun does not seem TO be suited to his
makeup; he prefers to waltz around among the
sagebrush in the soft light OF the moon. Dur
ing the day he is Of a retiring disposition and
recuperates his exhausted vitality from the
previous nights debauch under the friendly
shade Of a projecting rock. or in the deep seclu-
sion OF a clump of quaking asp. away from the
busy haunts Of men and remote from any trail
or road.
The coyote Is not choice as to his diet. that Is,
he can accommodate himself to circumstances
His favorite dishi is live jack rabbit, and a moon
light race tween a coyote and a jack rabbit is
an interesting affair. 1t is conducted on the
~strictest Of business principles and no time Is
lost In arranging preliminaries There is no
hippodroming or selling out in that race: It is
a square deal and fair play. If the jack rabbit
comes out ahead it is a new lease of life for
him IL the coyote scores in that inning. it means
a thanksgiving dinner for him. But fond as he
is Of Jack rabbit he will not disdain a luncheon
of dead mule when he is playing in hard luck.
He sometimes eats prairie dog, but not often {;
for prairie dog is not good eating even for a
coyote. Once in a while a hungry coyote will
prolong his nightly revels till a comparatively
late hour in the morning. In that case he may
steal up to the hole Of a prairie dog before the
latter is up and conceal himself within easy
springing distance. and the first time the prairie
dog energies from his house to TAX a look at
the, rising sun the coyote will pounce upon him
and carry, him on to a quiet, spot some
Frontiersmen often wonder what becomes Of
coyotes. for nobody ever saw a dead, one. A
is not a common occurrence. Sometimes q
coyote is accidentally started from his rest by a
himself and the hunter, no matter If there is
not another tree within five miles. the hunter
M Sn aT nsv9G do sGe TIVE ToS sSSYS BSt EGG sg9 in re TS ssIl him In
character in that direction. He is never to be
depend@ed on to follow any given line OF con-
proximate conclusion as to what action a coyote
will take under certain conditions is to decide
tiently for him to do Just the opposite thing.
To 6 lover OF natures music a coyote concert
music in itself: the environments help a good
deal. You should lie on a grassy knoll away up
somewhere near the headyaters of the Ar
kansas River; in the still moonlight on a warm
summer night. when there is not q. sound to
break the silence. and wait for Developments.
across the gulch a low, grooming sound, like
tbs, moan OF the wind when the leaves are
falling. It ceases. when an answering wall,
only a little louder. floats over the still
third voice breaks In from still an
other direction: another and another from
other points Of the compass; until the
singer. and a hundred tuneful throats are join
ing in that wild. weird melody that gradually
grows in volume till the great plateau is vocal
with the music of this improvised band OF
p%ature's musicians. This may continue for an
hour. when a voice will drop out here. another
there. and 50 on, until the crescendo has turned
into a diminuendo, and finally the one lone
voice from the sage bush where the first notes
Of the concert arose Is the only one that can be
heard. 1t sinks into a faint moan and dies
away so gradually that it is difficult to draw
the line between the silence and the sound.
When the coyote was turned loose from the
workshop OF nature. he was perfect in his Pc
culiar way. There was no room for improve
ment on the. patent. and he howls to-day, or
rather tonight, with the same unimpaired
originality that he did when he sat on his pri-
meval foothills. when the morning stars first
| sanR Jonathan