COYOTES IN THEIR ECONOMIC RELATIONS

INTRODUCTION.

The small prairie wolves of the western and southwestern parts of North America are generally known by the Spanish name 'coyote.' This serves to distinguish them from the larger gray or dusky wolves that occur in many portions of the same range.

Intermediate in size between the foxes and the larger wolves, yet varying greatly in this respect with the different species, the coyotes are outwardly characterized by a sharp-pointed muzzle, upright ears, and a moderately long, bushy tail. The pelage is full, especially in winter. The usual color is a dirty gray, with more or less reddish tinge about the head, neck, and legs, and black hairs showing about the shoulders and on the back. The extent of the red and the black varies much with the different species.

Coyotes are generally distributed from the central Mississippi Valley to the Pacific coast and from Costa Rica on the south to the plains of the Athabasca on the north.[A] In this extensive range about a dozen species have been thus far recognized.[B] Four of these are restricted to Mexico and Central America. Of the eight forms that occur in the United States, it may be remarked that their ranges and relations to each other have not been fully determined. Much material is yet needed before anyone can write with exact knowledge of their distribution.

A group in which there is so much variation in size must also present considerable diversity of habits. The larger forms, like C. latrans, are, of course, the more injurious to the live-stock interests. Smaller species, like C. estor and microdon, confine themselves in their food more to the smaller wild mammals and thus do much less damage. Yet it is not the intention in this preliminary bulletin to consider the species separately. Indeed, no such detailed study of their habits has yet been made. The present paper deals with the group as a whole, and is confined to a discussion of the economic relations of coyotes in general to our agricultural interests.

In the matter of fencing to protect sheep and poultry against coyote depredations, the Biological Survey has made some preliminary investigations, and has formulated plans for more extensive experiments in the near future. In the meantime it is hoped that farmers and ranchmen throughout the West who have had personal experience of the efficiency of various forms of fence as a protection against coyotes and other wild animals will write the Biological Survey fully as to such experience.

ABUNDANCE OF COYOTES.

Coyotes are abundant in most parts of their range, except the extreme north and the more thickly populated regions where waste lands are scarce. It is, however, on the plains of the western part of the United States that they come most closely in contact with the advancing tide of settlement. The establishment of pioneer homes throughout the country has always resulted in restricting the numbers of the larger wolves, which have gradually become extinct over large areas in the eastern and middle parts of the United States where they were formerly abundant. Not so with the coyote. Except in a few thickly settled regions, it has thrived upon civilization and is practically as numerous as it was before settlements began. Indeed, in many parts of the West coyotes are said to be increasing in spite of a constant warfare against them.

The introduction of domestic birds and mammals has provided the coyotes with an additional food supply always available and entirely precluding any danger of starvation. Then, too, the animals are far too suspicious to be easily destroyed by the use of traps or poisons. Old hunters of the Plains have informed the writer that while it was comparatively easy to poison large numbers of the gray wolf, the coyote was not an easy victim and usually avoided both the baited traps and the poisoned buffalo carcasses.

The plains east of the Rocky Mountains and the higher plateaus of the Great Basin west of the mountains are especially adapted to the wants of the coyote. Cultivated areas are far apart: stock ranges are extensive; tall grasses, weeds, cactuses, and sagebrush afford excellent hiding places; rabbits, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and other small animals are plentiful; and,