ten with a tinge of cinnamon or brown.

As regards its cunning, the fox is "but a fool to it." It cannot be
trapped. Some experiments made for the purpose, show results that throw
the theory of instinct quite into the background. It has been known to
burrow under a "dead fall," and drag off the bait without springing the
trap. The steel-trap it avoids, no matter how concealed; and the
cage-trap has been found "no go."

Farther illustrations of the cunning of the prairie-wolf might be found
in its mode of decoying within reach the antelopes and other creatures
on which it preys. Of course this species is as much fox as wolf, for
in reality a small wolf is a fox, and a large fox is a wolf. To the
traveller and trapper of the prairie regions, it is a pest. It robs the
former of his provisions--often stealing them out of his very tent; it
unbaits the traps of the latter, or devours the game already secured in
them.

It is a constant attendant upon the caravans or travelling-parties that
cross prairie-land. A pack of prairie-wolves will follow such a party
for hundreds of miles, in order to secure the refuse left at the camps.
They usually he down upon the prairie, just out of range of the rifles
of the travellers; yet they do not observe this rule always, as they
know there is not much danger of being molested. Hunters rarely shoot
them, not deeming their hides worth having, and not caring to waste a
charge upon them. They are more cautious when following a caravan of
California emigrants, where there are plenty of "greenhorns" and
amateur-hunters ready to fire at anything.

Prairie-wolves are also constant attendants upon the "gangs" of buffalo.
They follow these for hundreds of miles--in fact, the outskirts of the
buffalo herd are, for the time being, their home. They he down on the
prairie at a short distance from the buffaloes, and wait and watch, in
hopes that some of these animals may get disabled or separated from the
rest, or with the expectation that a cow with her new-dropped calf may
fall into the rear. In such cases, the pack gather round the
unfortunate individual, and worry it to death. A wounded or
superannuated bull sometimes "falls out," and is attacked. In this case
the fight is more desperate, and the bull is sadly mutilated before he
can be brought to the ground. Several wolves, too, are laid _hors de
combat_ during the struggle.

The prairie traveller may often look around him withou