The forage beats of several coyotes were discovered in connection with trapping specimens of these animals. In January, 1952, two coyotes, probably a mated pair, traveled nightly from the slopes immediately west of Evey Canyon, at about 3100 feet, down into the sagebrush adjacent to the west side of San Antonio Wash, at about 1700 feet elevation. The route led down open ridges, then for about one half mile across a level, cultivated plateau, and then swung over the eroded banks near the lowermost point of the plateau onto the level sage flats. The distance covered by this route from the foothills down to the flats was somewhat more than a mile, with about a 1400 foot difference in elevation between the daytime retreat and the nocturnal forage area. Another route, seemingly used by only one coyote, was somewhat longer. This animal followed fire breaks and ridges from above Thompson Canyon down onto a fire road, and then into the lower end of Palmer Canyon where it entered the flats. This route covered about three miles in coming from the foothills to the flats. Feces of this coyote often contained the remains of white leghorn chickens which had been found at a refuse pile near several chicken ranches one-half mile from the base of Palmer Canyon.
Although no definite idea could be gained of the population density of coyotes in the area, it was clear that in certain localities they were, as carnivores go, abundant. After one large male was obtained in the flats at the base of Cobal Canyon, at least two other individuals were heard howling in this immediate area, and their tracks were noted repeatedly on dirt roads. One night early in January, 1952, immediately west of the head of San Antonio Wash, the voices of six coyotes could be picked out separately from a chorus of coyote howls which came from several different directions in the wash.
Many field examinations of coyote feces left the impression that chickens and lagomorphs made up the bulk of the coyote's food on the coastal slope. To check this a study of 39 sets of scats collected at various localities on the coastal slope was made in the laboratory, the results being shown in Table 10. Remains of one of the three species of rabbits, cottontails, jack rabbits, or brush rabbits, occurred in 72 per cent of the feces examined. Cottontails, it will be noted, were preyed upon more heavily than any other wild species, remains of this form being found in 33 per cent of the feces. The prevalence of chicken remains in coyote feces does not imply that these animals were killed by the coyotes. All of the chickens could have been found dead in the refuse piles of the many chicken ranches. In addition, the chickens were raised in wire cages above the ground where they were nearly invulnerable to predation. That coyotes may at times kill deer in this area was suggested by the finding of tracks in the sand in San Antonio Wash which clearly indicated that a deer had been closely pursued by a coyote. The tracks were lost in a stretch of brush so the outcome of the chase could not be determined. Near the mouth of Lytle Creek Canyon, in November, 1951, coyote feces contained mostly remains of grapes from nearby vineyards. Also, above Cucamonga, coyotes were found to be feeding heavily on grapes. This must be a rather unsuitable form of nourishment for coyotes, for many of the grapes in the feces appeared nearly unaltered despite their trip through the alimentary canal.
Table 10.—Results of Examinations of Thirty-nine Sets of Coyote Feces from the Pacific Slope of the San Gabriel Mountains. Feces Were Deposited in Autumn and Winter (September to February).
| Food item | Number of sets of feces which contained food item | Percentages of occurrence[A] |
|---|---|---|
| chicken | 18 | 46.2 |
| Sylvilagus audubonii | 13 | 33.3 |
| Lepus californicus | 10 | 25.6 |
| Sylvilagus bachmani | 5 | 12.8 |
| Odocoileus hemionus | 5 | 12.8 |
| rodents (unidentified) | 5 | 12.8 |
| Dipodomys agilis | 4 | 10.3 |
| Neotoma species | 3 | 7.7 |
| Mephitis mephitis | 3 | 7.7 |
| Carrion beetle | 2 | 5.1 |
| passerine bird | 1 | 2.67 |
| bot fly larva | 1 | 2.67 |
| snail shell | 1 | 2.67 |
| scorpion | 1 | 2.67 |
| Jerusalem cricket | 1 | 2.67 |
| sheep hair | 1 | 2.67 |
| Lynx rufus | 1 | 2.67 |
| Kitten of wildcat or housecat | 1 | 2.67 |
| Lophortyx californica | 1 | 2.67 |
| grapes | 1 | 2.67 |
| grass | 1 | 2.67 |
[ [A] This is an expression, in percentage, of the number of sets of feces which contained the particular food item out of the total of thirty-nine sets examined.
The six coyotes taken on the Pacific slope are fairly uniform in coloration; the occurrence of white tipping on the tails of most of the specimens, instead of the usual solid black tip, is notable. Three skins, those of a male and two females, have patches of white hairs at the tips of the tails; two skins, of a male and a female, show only scattered white hairs at the tips of the tails; and the skin of one female has a solidly black-tipped tail. An additional female, trapped by David Leighton in Thompson Canyon, had a large patch of white hairs at the tip of the tail. Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1937:501) mention that only an occasional individual (female?) has a white-tipped tail.
Weights are available for four specimens: two coyotes trapped in San Antonio Wash, a male and a female, weighed 20.5 and 23.2 pounds respectively; a female from the mouth of San Antonio Canyon weighed 21.6 pounds; and a large male from the mouth of Thompson Canyon weighed 29.3 pounds.
Specimens examined.—Total, 6, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: Live Oak Canyon, 3000 ft., 1; mouth of San Antonio Canyon, 2000 ft., 1; 4 mi. N Claremont, 1600 ft., 2; 4 mi. NE Claremont, 1600 ft., 1; 3 mi. NE Claremont, 1600 ft., 1.
Table 11.—Cranial Measurements of Canis latrans ochropus from the Coastal Slope of the San Gabriel Mountains.