of different
localities, and even of the same locality, is quite remarkable, and so,
curiously enough, is the difference in the size of the teeth, in some
cases even when the body of one wolf is as big as that of another. I
have seen wolves from Texas and New Mexico which were undersized,
slim animals with rather small tusks, in no way to be compared to the
long-toothed giants of their race that dwell in the heavily timbered
mountains of the Northwest and in the far North. As a rule, the teeth of
the coyote are relatively smaller than those of the gray wolf.

Formerly wolves were incredibly abundant in certain parts of the
country, notably on the great plains, where they were known as buffalo
wolves, and were regular attendants on the great herds of the bison.
Every traveller and hunter of the old days knew them as among the most
common sights of the plains, and they followed the hunting parties and
emigrant trains for the sake of the scraps left in camp. Now, however,
there is no district in which they are really abundant. The wolfers, or
professional wolf-hunters, who killed them by poisoning for the sake
of their fur, and the cattlemen, who likewise killed them by poisoning
because of their raids on the herds, have doubtless been the chief
instruments in working their decimation on the plains. In the '70's, and
even in the early '80's, many tens of thousands of wolves were killed by
the wolfers in Montana and northern Wyoming and western Dakota. Nowadays
the surviving wolves of the plains have learned caution; they no longer
move abroad at midday, and still less do they dream of hanging on the
footsteps of hunter and traveler. Instead of being one of the most
common they have become one of the rarest sights of the plains. A hunter
may wander far and wide through the plains for months nowadays and
never see a wolf, though he will probably see many coyotes. However, the
diminution goes on, not steadily but by fits and starts, and moreover,
the beasts now and then change their abodes, and appear in numbers in
places where they have been scarce for a long period. In the present
winter of 1892-'93 big wolves are more plentiful in the neighborhood of
my ranch than they have been for ten years, and have worked some havoc
among the cattle and young horses. The cowboys have been carrying on the
usual vindictive campaign against them; a number have been poisoned, and
a number of others have fallen victims to their greediness,