(1) Ordinary trot. (2) Fast trot.
The hunting methods are the same as for the gray wolf. Where the latter, however, is looking for the living, the coyote is watching for the dead, and he rather deserves to be called the hyena of the Western Hemisphere than prairie wolf, for his main diet is carrion. His addiction to carrion can be made of use to the hunter, in locating big game which has been unfortunately "shot to the woods," and of which he desires to secure at least the antlered or horned head.
In locating missing persons, who are supposed to have met with a fatal accident or worse, the trail of the coyote could be employed to advantage—and undoubtedly will be, if it is once a matter of general knowledge that the prairie wolf will always visit the immediate vicinity of the remains of a hidden or buried human body, and sound its dismal howl over them every time it happens to pass through that part of the country.
THE FOX
THERE is very little to add to what has been said about the fox track in the chapter on the coyote. When galloping, the fox's trail shows many variations not found in that of any other animal, but as the sinful fellow generally leaps only when he undertakes a chase, or is chased himself, the features in the running trail are practically of little or no consequence to the tracker. It is hardly possible to confound a fox trail with that of a very small dog—only in that the latter has a foot as small as the average fox—on account of the glaring dissimilarity in the length of the individual steps, which is much more apparent than between the wolf and big dog. The writer, at the tender age of seven, mistook once a very small dog's trail for that of a fox, but after his father pointed out the above feature, he never afterwards made such a mistake.
FOX. (TWO-THIRDS NATURAL SIZE)
Front and hind track. (1) Ordinary gait; the shaded part shows drag of brush. (2) Running.