all sports possible in civilized countries, riding to
hounds is perhaps the best if followed as it should be, for the sake
of the strong excitement, with as much simplicity as possible, and not
merely as a fashionable amusement. It tends to develop moral no less
than physical qualities; the rider needs nerve and head; he must possess
daring and resolution, as well as a good deal of bodily skill and a
certain amount of wiry toughness and endurance.

CHAPTER VIII.--WOLVES AND WOLF-HOUNDS.

The wolf is the arch type of ravin, the beast of waste and desolation.
It is still found scattered thinly throughout all the wilder portions
of the United States, but has everywhere retreated from the advance of
civilization.

Wolves show an infinite variety in color, size, physical formation, and
temper. Almost all the varieties intergrade with one another, however,
so that it is very difficult to draw a hard and fast line between any
two of them. Nevertheless, west of the Mississippi there are found two
distinct types. One is the wolf proper, or big wolf, specifically akin
to the wolves of the eastern States. The other is the little coyote, or
prairie wolf. The coyote and the big wolf are found together in almost
all the wilder districts from the Rio Grande to the valleys of the upper
Missouri and the upper Columbia. Throughout this region there is always
a sharp line of demarkation, especially in size, between the coyotes and
the big wolves of any given district; but in certain districts the big
wolves are very much larger than their brethren in other districts. In
the upper Columbia country, for instance, they are very large; along the
Rio Grande they are small. Dr. Hart Merriam informs me that, according
to his experience, the coyote is largest in southern California. In many
respects the coyote differs altogether in habits from its big relative.
For one thing it is far more tolerant of man. In some localities coyotes
are more numerous around settlements, and even in the close vicinity
of large towns, than they are in the frowning and desolate fastnesses
haunted by their grim elder brother.

Big wolves vary far more in color than the coyotes do. I have seen
white, black, red, yellow, brown, gray, and grizzled skins, and others
representing every shade between, although usually each locality has its
prevailing tint. The grizzled, gray, and brown often have precisely the
coat of the coyote. The difference in size among wolves