_Specimens examined._--Total, 3: 69472, skull only of a young
individual, found dead at the top of the bank of the Mancos River,
1-1/2 mi. E Waters Cabin, 6400 ft., August 29, 1956, probably
killed by man; ad. [Male], 76298, taken by J.R. Alcorn, November
10, 1957, on the top of the Mesa at Square Tower House; and skin
and skull, MV 7858/507, without data.
Tracks or scats of the coyote were seen in all parts of the Park
visited. Coyotes range throughout the area. On September 3, 1956, 35
coyote scats were found on the dirt roads in Prater and Morfield canyons
above 7300 feet elevation and on the road crossing the divide between
these canyons. Probably none of these scats was more than a month old.
Coyote tracks were seen at some of the fresher scats. Scats associated
with fox tracks and scats of small size were not picked up.
Nevertheless, a few of the scats studied may have been those of foxes.
Judging from the contents of scats that were certainly from foxes, the
effect of inadvertent inclusion of fox scats would be to elevate the
percentage of scats containing berries (but not more than five
percentage points). Each scat was broken up and the percentage of scats
containing each of the following items was noted (figures are to the
nearest per cent). Remains of deer occurred in 48 per cent of scats,
gooseberries (_Ribes_) in 34 per cent, porcupines in 29 per cent,
insects in 11 per cent, birds in 11 per cent, unidentified hair in 9 per
cent, and unidentified material in 6 per cent. One scat (3 per cent)
contained an appreciable amount of plant debris, one contained
_Microtus_ along with other items, and one contained only _Sylvilagus_;
14 scats had material of more than one category. The percentage in each
category of the volume of each scat was estimated. Data on volume
warrant no conclusion other than one that can be drawn from the
percentages of occurrence, namely that the major food sources used in
August, 1956, by coyotes in these canyons were deer, berries, and
porcupines and that other sources, though used, were relatively
unimportant. Deer were common in the area. It is fortunate that coyotes
remain to help regulate the deer population. Wolves, _Canis lupus_,
which at one time occurred in the Park, are now gone. The coyote and
mountain lion are the only sizeable predators that remain.