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diff --git a/old/61935-0.txt b/old/61935-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8e09b58..0000000 --- a/old/61935-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11456 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter, by -Theodore Roosevelt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter - -Author: Theodore Roosevelt - -Release Date: April 25, 2020 [EBook #61935] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN - AMERICAN HUNTER - - - - - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ - │ BOOKS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT │ - │ │ - │ PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS │ - │ │ - ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ - │ │ - │OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER. New Edition. $3.00 _net_.│ - │ Illustrated. 8vo │ - │ │ - │OLIVER CROMWELL. Illustrated. 8vo $2.00 │ - │ │ - │THE ROUGH RIDERS. Illustrated. 8vo $1.50 │ - │ │ - │THE ROOSEVELT BOOK. Selections from the Writings of Theodore │ - │ Roosevelt. 16mo 50 cents _net_. │ - └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, 1908, by P.A. Juley, New York._ -] - - - - - OUTDOOR PASTIMES - OF AN - AMERICAN HUNTER - - - BY - - THEODORE ROOSEVELT - - ILLUSTRATED - - NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION - - - NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS - 1908 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1893, 1895, 1897, 1904, BY - FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY - - COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THE - MACMILLAN COMPANY - - COPYRIGHT, 1905, 1907, 1908, BY - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS - - - _All rights reserved_ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION - - -Chapters XII and XIII relate to experiences that occurred since the -first edition of this volume was published. The photographs in Chapter -XII were taken by Dr. Alexander Lambert; those in Chapter XIII by Mrs. -Herbert Wadsworth and Mr. Clinedinst. - - THEODORE ROOSEVELT. - - THE WHITE HOUSE, January 1, 1908. - - - - - TO - JOHN BURROUGHS - - -Dear Oom John:—Every lover of outdoor life must feel a sense of -affectionate obligation to you. Your writings appeal to all who care for -the life of the woods and the fields, whether their tastes keep them in -the homely, pleasant farm country or lead them into the wilderness. It -is a good thing for our people that you should have lived; and surely no -man can wish to have more said of him. - -I wish to express my hearty appreciation of your warfare against the -sham nature-writers—those whom you have called “the yellow journalists -of the woods.” From the days of Æsop to the days of Reinecke Fuchs, and -from the days of Reinecke Fuchs to the present time, there has been a -distinct and attractive place in literature for those who write avowed -fiction in which the heroes are animals with human or semi-human -attributes. This fiction serves a useful purpose in many ways, even in -the way of encouraging people to take the right view of outdoor life and -outdoor creatures; but it is unpardonable for any observer of nature to -write fiction and then publish it as truth, and he who exposes and wars -against such action is entitled to respect and support. You in your own -person have illustrated what can be done by the lover of nature who has -trained himself to keen observation, who describes accurately what is -thus observed, and who, finally, possesses the additional gift of -writing with charm and interest. - -You were with me on one of the trips described in this volume, and I -trust that to look over it will recall the pleasant days we spent -together. - - Your friend, - THEODORE ROOSEVELT. - - THE WHITE HOUSE, October 2, 1905. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - - PAGE - WITH THE COUGAR HOUNDS 1 - - - CHAPTER II - - A COLORADO BEAR HUNT 68 - - - CHAPTER III - - WOLF-COURSING 100 - - - CHAPTER IV - - HUNTING IN THE CATTLE COUNTRY; THE PRONGBUCK 133 - - - CHAPTER V - - A SHOT AT A MOUNTAIN SHEEP 181 - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE WHITETAIL DEER 193 - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE MULE-DEER OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACKTAIL 224 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE WAPITI OR ROUND-HORNED ELK 256 - - - CHAPTER IX - - WILDERNESS RESERVES; THE YELLOWSTONE PARK 287 - - - CHAPTER X - - BOOKS ON BIG GAME 318 - - - CHAPTER XI - - AT HOME 339 - - - CHAPTER XII - - IN THE LOUISIANA CANEBRAKES 360 - - - CHAPTER XIII - - SMALL COUNTRY NEIGHBORS 391 - - * * * * * - - ⁂ Seven of these Chapters have been recently written; - the others have been revised and added to since they - originally appeared in the publications of the Boone and - Crockett Club and in Mr. Caspar Whitney’s “Deer Family.” - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - THEODORE ROOSEVELT _Frontispiece_ - _Photogravure from a photograph._ - - FACING PAGE - GOFF AND THE PACK 5 - - TURK AND A BOBCAT IN TOP OF A PINYON 12 - - BOBCAT IN PINYON 16 - - STARTING FOR A HUNT 33 - - THE FIRST COUGAR KILLED 37 - - AFTER THE FIGHT 44 - - COUGAR IN A TREE 50 - - BARKING TREED 63 - - STARTING FOR CAMP 68 - - AT DINNER 74 - - THE PACK STRIKES THE FRESH BEAR TRAIL 77 - - DEATH OF THE BIG BEAR 83 - - STEWART AND THE BOBCAT 86 - - THE PACK BAYING THE BEAR 88 - - A DOILY BEAR 91 - - THE BIG BEAR 94 - - STARTING TOWARD THE WOLF GROUNDS 101 - - GREYHOUNDS RESTING AFTER A RUN 104 - - AT THE TAIL OF THE CHUCK WAGON 108 - - THE BIG D COW PONY 112 - - ABERNETHY AND COYOTE 116 - - ABERNETHY RETURNS FROM THE HUNT 125 - - BONY MOORE AND THE COYOTE 129 - - ON THE LITTLE MISSOURI 138 - - CAMPING ON THE ANTELOPE GROUNDS 156 - - RANCH WAGON RETURNING FROM HUNT 182 - - ELKHORN RANCH 216 - - THE RANCH HOUSE 238 - - THE RANCH VERANDA 248 - - THE PACK TRAIN 264 - - TROPHIES OF A SUCCESSFUL HUNT 277 - - TROPHIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE DINING-ROOM 284 - - ANTELOPE IN THE STREETS OF GARDINER 294 - - BLACKTAIL DEER ON PARADE GROUND 299 - - ELK IN SNOW 304 - - OOM JOHN 309 - - BEARS AND TOURISTS 311 - - GRIZZLY BEAR AND COOK 314 - - THE BEAR AND THE CHAMBERMAID 316 - - THE NORTH ROOM AT SAGAMORE HILL 324 - - RENOWN 341 - - HIS FIRST BUCK 343 - - ALGONQUIN AND SKIP 344 - - PETER RABBIT 346 - - THE GUINEA PIGS 348 - - FAMILY FRIENDS 350 - - JOSIAH 354 - - BLEISTEIN JUMPING 356 - - THE BEAR HUNTERS 366 - - LISTENING FOR THE PACK 376 - - AUDREY TAKES THE BARS 396 - - THE STONE WALL 402 - - ROSWELL BEHAVES LIKE A GENTLEMAN 414 - - ROSWELL FIGHTS FOR HIS HEAD 418 - - * * * * * - - ⁂ The cuts for Chapter I are from photographs taken by - Philip B. Stewart; those in Chapter II, from photographs - taken by Dr. Alexander Lambert and Philip B. Stewart; - those in Chapter III, from photographs taken by Dr. - Lambert and Sloan Simpson; those in Chapter IX were - obtained through Major Pitcher; most of the others are - from photographs taken by me or by members of my family. - - - - - OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF - AN AMERICAN HUNTER - - - - - CHAPTER I - WITH THE COUGAR HOUNDS - - -In January, 1901, I started on a five weeks’ cougar hunt from Meeker in -Northwest Colorado. My companions were Mr. Philip B. Stewart and Dr. -Gerald Webb, of Colorado Springs; Stewart was the captain of the -victorious Yale nine of ’86. We reached Meeker on January 11th, after a -forty mile drive from the railroad, through the bitter winter weather; -it was eighteen degrees below zero when we started. At Meeker we met -John B. Goff, the hunter, and left town the next morning on horseback -for his ranch, our hunting beginning that same afternoon, when after a -brisk run our dogs treed a bobcat. After a fortnight Stewart and Webb -returned, Goff and I staying out three weeks longer. We did not have to -camp out, thanks to the warm-hearted hospitality of the proprietor and -manager of the Keystone Ranch, and of the Mathes Brothers and Judge -Foreman, both of whose ranches I also visited. The five weeks were spent -hunting north of the White River, most of the time in the neighborhood -of Coyote Basin and Colorow Mountain. In midwinter, hunting on horseback -in the Rockies is apt to be cold work, but we were too warmly clad to -mind the weather. We wore heavy flannels, jackets lined with sheepskin, -caps which drew down entirely over our ears, and on our feet heavy -ordinary socks, german socks, and overshoes. Galloping through the brush -and among the spikes of the dead cedars, meant that now and then one got -snagged; I found tough overalls better than trousers; and most of the -time I did not need the jacket, wearing my old buckskin shirt, which is -to my mind a particularly useful and comfortable garment. - -It is a high, dry country, where the winters are usually very cold, but -the snow not under ordinary circumstances very deep. It is wild and -broken in character, the hills and low mountains rising in sheer slopes, -broken by cliffs and riven by deeply cut and gloomy gorges and ravines. -The sage-brush grows everywhere upon the flats and hillsides. Large open -groves of pinyon and cedar are scattered over the peaks, ridges, and -table-lands. Tall spruces cluster in the cold ravines. Cottonwoods grow -along the stream courses, and there are occasional patches of scrub-oak -and quaking asp. The entire country is taken up with cattle ranges -wherever it is possible to get a sufficient water-supply, natural or -artificial. Some thirty miles to the east and north the mountains rise -higher, the evergreen forest becomes continuous, the snow lies deep all -through the winter, and such Northern animals as the wolverene, lucivee, -and snowshoe rabbit are found. This high country is the summer home of -the Colorado elk, now woefully diminished in numbers, and of the -Colorado blacktail deer, which are still very plentiful, but which, -unless better protected, will follow the elk in the next few decades. I -am happy to say that there are now signs to show that the State is -waking up to the need of protecting both elk and deer; the few remaining -mountain sheep in Colorado are so successfully protected that they are -said to be increasing in numbers. In winter both elk and deer come down -to the lower country, through a part of which I made my hunting trip. We -did not come across any elk, but I have never, even in the old days, -seen blacktail more abundant than they were in this region. The bucks -had not lost their antlers, and were generally, but not always, found in -small troops by themselves; the does, yearlings, and fawns—now almost -yearlings themselves—went in bands. They seemed tame, and we often -passed close to them before they took alarm. Of course at that season it -was against the law to kill them; and even had this not been so none of -our party would have dreamed of molesting them. - -Flocks of Alaskan long-spurs and of rosy finches flitted around the -ranch buildings; but at that season there was not very much small bird -life. - -The midwinter mountain landscape was very beautiful, whether under the -brilliant blue sky of the day, or the starlight or glorious moonlight of -the night, or when under the dying sun the snowy peaks, and the light -clouds above, kindled into flame, and sank again to gold and amber and -sombre purple. After the snow-storms the trees, almost hidden beneath -the light, feathery masses, gave a new and strange look to the -mountains, as if they were giant masses of frosted silver. Even the -storms had a beauty of their own. The keen, cold air, the wonderful -scenery, and the interest and excitement of the sport, made our veins -thrill and beat with buoyant life. - -In cougar hunting the success of the hunter depends absolutely upon his -hounds. As hounds that are not perfectly trained are worse than useless, -this means that success depends absolutely upon the man who trains and -hunts the hounds. Goff was one of the best hunters with whom I have ever -been out, and he had trained his pack to a point of perfection for its -special work which I have never known another such pack to reach. With -the exception of one new hound, which he had just purchased, and of a -puppy, which was being trained, not one of the pack would look at a deer -even when they were all as keen as mustard, were not on a trail, and -when the deer got up but fifty yards or so from them. By the end of the -hunt both the new hound and the puppy were entirely trustworthy; of -course, Goff can only keep up his pack by continually including new or -young dogs with the veterans. As cougar are only plentiful where deer -are infinitely more plentiful, the first requisite for a good cougar -hound is that it shall leave its natural prey, the deer, entirely alone. -Goff’s pack ran only bear, cougar, and bobcat. Under no circumstances -were they ever permitted to follow elk, deer, antelope or, of course, -rabbit. Nor were they allowed to follow a wolf unless it was wounded; -for in such a rough country they would at once run out of sight and -hearing, and moreover if they did overtake the wolf they would be so -scattered as to come up singly and probably be overcome one after -another. Being bold dogs they were always especially eager after wolf -and coyote, and when they came across the trail of either, though they -would not follow it, they would usually challenge loudly. If the -circumstances were such that they could overtake the wolf in a body, it -could make no effective fight against them, no matter how large and -powerful. On the one or two occasions when this had occurred, the pack -had throttled “Isegrim” without getting a scratch. - -[Illustration: - - GOFF AND THE PACK - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -As the dogs did all the work, we naturally became extremely interested -in them, and rapidly grew to know the voice, peculiarities, and special -abilities of each. There were eight hounds and four fighting dogs. The -hounds were of the ordinary Eastern type, used from the Adirondacks to -the Mississippi and the Gulf in the chase of deer and fox. Six of them -were black and tan and two were mottled. They differed widely in size -and voice. The biggest, and, on the whole, the most useful, was Jim, a -very fast, powerful, and true dog with a great voice. When the animal -was treed or bayed, Jim was especially useful because he never stopped -barking; and we could only find the hounds, when at bay, by listening -for the sound of their voices. Among the cliffs and precipices the pack -usually ran out of sight and hearing if the chase lasted any length of -time. Their business was to bring the quarry to bay, or put it up a -tree, and then to stay with it and make a noise until the hunters came -up. During this hunt there were two or three occasions when they had a -cougar up a tree for at least three hours before we arrived, and on -several occasions Goff had known them to keep a cougar up a tree -overnight and to be still barking around the tree when the hunters at -last found them the following morning. Jim always did his share of the -killing, being a formidable fighter, though too wary to take hold until -one of the professional fighting dogs had seized. He was a great bully -with the other dogs, robbing them of their food, and yielding only to -Turk. He possessed great endurance, and very stout feet. - -On the whole the most useful dog next to Jim was old Boxer. Age had made -Boxer slow, and in addition to this, the first cougar we tackled bit him -through one hind leg, so that for the remainder of the trip he went on -three legs, or, as Goff put it, “packed one leg”; but this seemed not to -interfere with his appetite, his endurance, or his desire for the chase. -Of all the dogs he was the best to puzzle out a cold trail on a bare -hillside, or in any difficult place. He hardly paid any heed to the -others, always insisting upon working out the trail for himself, and he -never gave up. Of course, the dogs were much more apt to come upon the -cold than upon the fresh trail of a cougar, and it was often necessary -for them to spend several hours in working out a track which was at -least two days old. Both Boxer and Jim had enormous appetites. Boxer was -a small dog and Jim a very large one, and as the relations of the pack -among themselves were those of brutal wild-beast selfishness, Boxer had -to eat very quickly if he expected to get anything when Jim was around. -He never ventured to fight Jim, but in deep-toned voice appealed to -heaven against the unrighteousness with which he was treated; and time -and again such appeal caused me to sally out and rescue his dinner from -Jim’s highway robbery. Once, when Boxer was given a biscuit, which he -tried to bolt whole, Jim simply took his entire head in his jaws, and -convinced him that he had his choice of surrendering the biscuit, or -sharing its passage down Jim’s capacious throat. Boxer promptly gave up -the biscuit, then lay on his back and wailed a protest to fate—his voice -being deep rather than loud, so that on the trail, when heard at a -distance, it sounded a little as if he was croaking. After killing a -cougar we usually cut up the carcass and fed it to the dogs, if we did -not expect another chase that day. They devoured it eagerly, Boxer, -after his meal, always looking as if he had swallowed a mattress. - -Next in size to Jim was Tree’em. Tree’em was a good dog, but I never -considered him remarkable until his feat on the last day of our hunt, to -be afterward related. He was not a very noisy dog, and when “barking -treed” he had a meditative way of giving single barks separated by -intervals of several seconds, all the time gazing stolidly up at the -big, sinister cat which he was baying. Early in the hunt, in the course -of a fight with one of the cougars, he received some injury to his tail, -which made it hang down like a piece of old rope. Apparently it hurt him -a good deal and we let him rest for a fortnight. This put him in great -spirits and made him fat and strong, but only enabled him to recover -power over the root of the tail, while the tip hung down as before; it -looked like a curved pump-handle when he tried to carry it erect. - -Lil and Nel were two very stanch and fast bitches, the only two dogs -that could keep up to Jim in a quick burst. They had shrill voices. -Their only failing was a tendency to let the other members of the pack -cow them so that they did not get their full share of the food. It was -not a pack in which a slow or timid dog had much chance for existence. -They would all unite in the chase and the fierce struggle which usually -closed it; but the instant the quarry was killed each dog resumed his -normal attitude of greedy anger or greedy fear toward the others. - -Another bitch rejoiced in the not very appropriate name of Pete. She was -a most ardent huntress. In the middle of our trip she gave birth to a -litter of puppies, but before they were two weeks old she would slip -away after us and join with the utmost ardor in the hunting and -fighting. Her brother Jimmie, although of the same age (both were -young), was not nearly as far advanced. He would run well on a fresh -trail, but a cold trail or a long check always discouraged him and made -him come back to Goff. He was rapidly learning; a single beating taught -him to let deer alone. The remaining hound, Bruno, had just been added -to the pack. He showed tendencies both to muteness and babbling, and at -times, if he thought himself unobserved, could not resist making a -sprint after a deer; but he occasionally rendered good service. If Jim -or Boxer gave tongue every member of the pack ran to the sound; but not -a dog paid any heed to Jimmie or Bruno. Yet both ultimately became -first-class hounds. - -The fighting dogs always trotted at the heels of the horses, which had -become entirely accustomed to them, and made no objection when they -literally rubbed against their heels. The fighters never left us until -we came to where we could hear the hounds “barking treed,” or with their -quarry at bay. Then they tore in a straight line to the sound. They were -the ones who were expected to do the seizing and take the punishment, -though the minute they actually had hold of the cougar, the hounds all -piled on too, and did their share of the killing; but the seizers fought -the head while the hounds generally took hold behind. All of them, -fighters and hounds alike, were exceedingly good-natured and -affectionate with their human friends, though short-tempered to a degree -with one another. The best of the fighters was old Turk, who was by -blood half hound and half “Siberian bloodhound.” Both his father and his -mother were half-breeds of the same strains, and both were famous -fighters. Once, when Goff had wounded an enormous gray wolf in the hind -leg, the father had overtaken it and fought it to a standstill. The two -dogs together were an overmatch for any wolf. Turk had had a sister who -was as good as he was; but she had been killed the year before by a -cougar which bit her through the skull; accidents being, of course, -frequent in the pack, for a big cougar is an even more formidable -opponent to dogs than a wolf. Turk’s head and body were seamed with -scars. He had lost his lower fangs, but he was still a most formidable -dog. While we were at the Keystone Ranch a big steer which had been -driven in, got on the fight, and the foreman, William Wilson, took Turk -out to aid him. At first Turk did not grasp what was expected of him, -because all the dogs were trained never to touch anything domestic—at -the different ranches where we stopped the cats and kittens wandered -about, perfectly safe, in the midst of this hard-biting crew of bear and -cougar fighters. But when Turk at last realized that he was expected to -seize the steer, he did the business with speed and thoroughness; he not -only threw the steer, but would have killed it then and there had he not -been, with much difficulty, taken away. Three dogs like Turk, in their -prime and with their teeth intact, could, I believe, kill an ordinary -female cougar, and could hold even a big male so as to allow it to be -killed with the knife. - -Next to Turk were two half-breeds between bull and shepherd, named Tony -and Baldy. They were exceedingly game, knowing-looking little dogs, with -a certain alert swagger that reminded one of the walk of some -light-weight prize-fighters. In fights with cougars, bears, and lynx, -they too had been badly mauled and had lost a good many of their teeth. -Neither of the gallant little fellows survived the trip. Their place was -taken by a white bulldog bitch, Queen, which we picked up at the -Keystone Ranch; a very affectionate and good-humored dog, but, when her -blood was aroused, a dauntless though rather stupid fighter. -Unfortunately she did not seize by the head, taking hold of any part -that was nearest. - -The pack had many interesting peculiarities, but none more so than the -fact that four of them climbed trees. Only one of the hounds, little -Jimmie, ever tried the feat; but of the fighters, not only Tony and -Baldy but big Turk climbed every tree that gave them any chance. The -pinyons and cedars were low, multi-forked, and usually sent off branches -from near the ground. In consequence the dogs could, by industrious -effort, work their way almost to the top. The photograph of Turk and the -bobcat in the pinyon (facing p. 12) shows them at an altitude of about -thirty feet above the ground. Now and then a dog would lose his footing -and come down with a whack which sounded as if he must be disabled, but -after a growl and a shake he would start up the tree again. They could -not fight well while in a tree, and were often scratched or knocked to -the ground by a cougar; and when the quarry was shot out of its perch -and seized by the expectant throng below, the dogs in the tree, yelping -with eager excitement, dived headlong down through the branches, -regardless of consequences. - -The horses were stout, hardy, sure-footed beasts, not very fast, but -able to climb like goats, and to endure an immense amount of work. Goff -and I each used two for the trip. - -The bear were all holed up for the winter, and so our game was limited -to cougars and bobcats. In the books the bobcat is always called a lynx, -which it of course is; but whenever a hunter or trapper speaks of a lynx -(which he usually calls “link,” feeling dimly that the other -pronunciation is a plural), he means a lucivee. Bobcat is a good -distinctive name, and it is one which I think the book people might with -advantage adopt; for wildcat, which is the name given to the small lynx -in the East, is already pre-empted by the true wildcat of Europe. Like -all people of European descent who have gone into strange lands, we -Americans have christened our wild beasts with a fine disregard for -their specific and generic relations. We called the bison “buffalo” as -long as it existed, and we still call the big stag an “elk,” instead of -using for it the excellent term wapiti; on the other hand, to the true -elk and the reindeer we gave the new names moose and caribou—excellent -names, too, by the way. The prong buck is always called antelope, though -it is not an antelope at all; and the white goat is not a goat; while -the distinctive name of “bighorn” is rarely used for the mountain sheep. -In most cases, however, it is mere pedantry to try to upset popular -custom in such matters; and where, as with the bobcat, a perfectly good -name is taken, it would be better for scientific men to adopt it. I may -add that in this particular of nomenclature we are no worse sinners than -other people. The English in Ceylon, the English and Dutch in South -Africa, and the Spanish in South America, have all shown the same genius -for misnaming beasts and birds. - -[Illustration: - - TURK AND A BOBCAT IN TOP OF A PINYON - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Bobcats were very numerous where we were hunting. They fed chiefly upon -the rabbits, which fairly swarmed; mostly cotton-tails, but a few jacks. -Contrary to the popular belief, the winter is in many places a time of -plenty for carnivorous wild beasts. In this place, for instance, the -abundance of deer and rabbits made good hunting for both cougar and -bobcat, and all those we killed were as fat as possible, and in -consequence weighed more than their inches promised. The bobcats are -very fond of prairie-dogs, and haunt the dog towns as soon as spring -comes and the inhabitants emerge from their hibernation. They sometimes -pounce on higher game. We came upon an eight months’ fawn—very nearly a -yearling—which had been killed by a big male bobcat; and Judge Foreman -informed me that near his ranch, a few years previously, an -exceptionally large bobcat had killed a yearling doe. Bobcats will also -take lambs and young pigs, and if the chance occurs will readily seize -their small kinsman, the house cat. - -Bobcats are very fond of lurking round prairie-dog towns as soon as the -prairie-dogs come out in spring. In this part of Colorado, by the way, -the prairie-dogs were of an entirely different species from the common -kind of the plains east of the Rockies. - -We found that the bobcats sometimes made their lairs along the rocky -ledges or in holes in the cut banks, and sometimes in thickets, prowling -about during the night, and now and then even during the day. We never -chased them unless the dogs happened to run across them by accident when -questing for cougar, or when we were returning home after a day when we -had failed to find cougar. Usually the cat gave a good run, occasionally -throwing out the dogs by doubling or jack-knifing. Two or three times -one of them gave us an hour’s sharp trotting, cantering, and galloping -through the open cedar and pinyon groves on the table-lands; and the -runs sometimes lasted for a much longer period when the dogs had to go -across ledges and through deep ravines. - -On one of our runs a party of ravens fluttered along from tree to tree -beside us, making queer gurgling noises and evidently aware that they -might expect to reap a reward from our hunting. Ravens, multitudes of -magpies, and golden and bald eagles were seen continually, and all four -flocked to any carcass which was left in the open. The eagle and the -raven are true birds of the wilderness, and in a way their presence both -heightened and relieved the iron desolation of the wintry mountains. - -Over half the cats we started escaped, getting into caves or deep holes -in washouts. In the other instances they went up trees and were of -course easily shot. Tony and Baldy would bring them out of any hole into -which they themselves could get. After their loss, Lil, who was a small -hound, once went into a hole in a washout after a cat. After awhile she -stopped barking, though we could still hear the cat growling. What had -happened to her we did not know. We spent a couple of hours calling to -her and trying to get her to come out, but she neither came out nor -answered, and, as sunset was approaching and the ranch was some miles -off, we rode back there, intending to return with spades in the morning. -However, by breakfast we found that Lil had come back. We supposed that -she had got on the other side of the cat and had been afraid or unable -to attack it; so that as Collins the cow-puncher, who was a Southerner, -phrased it, “she just naturally stayed in the hole” until some time -during the night the cat went out and she followed. When once hunters -and hounds have come into the land, it is evident that the bobcats which -take refuge in caves have a far better chance of surviving than those -which make their lairs in the open and go up trees. But trees are sure -havens against their wilderness foes. Goff informed me that he once came -in the snow to a place where the tracks showed that some coyotes had put -a bobcat up a tree, and had finally abandoned the effort to get at it. -Any good fighting dog will kill a bobcat; but an untrained dog, even of -large size, will probably fail, as the bobcat makes good use of both -teeth and claws. The cats we caught frequently left marks on some of the -pack. We found them very variable in size. My two largest—both of course -males—weighed respectively thirty-one and thirty-nine pounds. The -latter, Goff said, was of exceptional size, and as large as any he had -ever killed. The full-grown females went down as low as eighteen pounds, -or even lower. - -When the bobcats were in the tree-tops we could get up very close. They -looked like large malevolent pussies. I once heard one of them squall -defiance when the dogs tried to get it out of a hole. Ordinarily they -confined themselves to a low growling. Stewart and Goff went up the -trees with their cameras whenever we got a bobcat in a favorable -position, and endeavored to take its photograph. Sometimes they were -very successful. Although they were frequently within six feet of a cat, -and occasionally even poked it in order to make it change its position, -I never saw one make a motion to jump on them. Two or three times on our -approach the cat jumped from the tree almost into the midst of the pack, -but it was so quick that it got off before they could seize it. They -invariably put it up another tree before it had gone any distance. - -Hunting the bobcat was only an incident. Our true quarry was the cougar. -I had long been anxious to make a regular hunt after cougar in a country -where the beasts were plentiful and where we could follow them with a -good pack of hounds. Astonishingly little of a satisfactory nature has -been left on record about the cougar by hunters, and in most places the -chances for observation of the big cats steadily grow less. They have -been thinned out almost to the point of extermination throughout the -Eastern States. In the Rocky Mountain region they are still plentiful in -places, but are growing less so; while on the contrary the wolf, which -was exterminated even more quickly in the East, in the West has until -recently been increasing in numbers. In northwestern Colorado a dozen -years ago, cougars were far more plentiful than wolves; whereas at the -present day the wolf is probably the more numerous. Nevertheless, there -are large areas, here and there among the Rockies, in which cougars will -be fairly plentiful for years to come. - -[Illustration: - - BOBCAT IN PINYON - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -No American beast has been the subject of so much loose writing or of -such wild fables as the cougar. Even its name is unsettled. In the -Eastern States it is usually called panther or painter; in the Western -States, mountain lion, or, toward the South, Mexican lion. The -Spanish-speaking people usually call it simply lion. It is, however, -sometimes called cougar in the West and Southwest of our country, and in -South America, puma. As it is desirable where possible not to use a name -that is misleading and is already appropriated to some entirely -different animal, it is best to call it cougar. - -The cougar is a very singular beast, shy and elusive to an extraordinary -degree, very cowardly and yet bloodthirsty and ferocious, varying -wonderfully in size, and subject, like many other beasts, to queer -freaks of character in occasional individuals. This fact of individual -variation in size and temper is almost always ignored in treating of the -animal; whereas it ought never to be left out of sight. - -The average writer, and for the matter of that, the average hunter, -where cougars are scarce, knows little or nothing of them, and in -describing them merely draws upon the stock of well-worn myths which -portray them as terrible foes of man, as dropping on their prey from -trees where they have been lying in wait, etc., etc. Very occasionally -there appears an absolutely trustworthy account like that by Dr. Hart -Merriam in his “Adirondack Mammals.” But many otherwise excellent -writers are wholly at sea in reference to the cougar. Thus one of the -best books on hunting in the far West in the old days is by Colonel -Dodge. Yet when Colonel Dodge came to describe the cougar he actually -treated of it as two species, one of which, the mountain lion, he -painted as a most ferocious and dangerous opponent of man; while the -other, the panther, was described as an abject coward, which would not -even in the last resort defend itself against man—the two of course -being the same animal. - -However, the wildest of all fables about the cougar has been reserved -not for hunter or popular writer, but for a professed naturalist. In his -charmingly written book, “The Naturalist in La Plata,” Mr. Hudson -actually describes the cougar as being friendly to man, disinterestedly -adverse to harming him, and at the same time an enemy of other large -carnivores. Mr. Hudson bases his opinion chiefly upon the assertions of -the Gauchos. The Gauchos, however, go one degree beyond Mr. Hudson, -calling the puma the “friend of Christians”; whereas Mr. Hudson only -ventures to attribute to the beast humanitarian, not theological, -preferences. As a matter of fact, Mr. Hudson’s belief in the cougar’s -peculiar friendship for man, and peculiar enmity to other large beasts -of prey, has not one particle of foundation in fact as regards at any -rate the North American form—and it is hardly to be supposed that the -South American form would alone develop such extraordinary traits. For -instance, Mr. Hudson says that the South American puma when hunted will -attack the dogs in preference to the man. In North America he will fight -the dog if the dog is nearest, and if the man comes to close quarters at -the same time as the dog he will attack the man if anything more -readily, evidently recognizing in him his chief opponent. He will often -go up a tree for a single dog. On Mr. Hudson’s theory he must do this -because of his altruistic feeling toward the dog. In fact, Mr. Hudson -could make out a better case of philo-humanity for the North American -wolf than for the North American cougar. Equally absurd is it to talk, -as Mr. Hudson does, of the cougar as the especial enemy of other -ferocious beasts. Mr. Hudson speaks of it as attacking and conquering -the jaguar. Of this I know nothing, but such an extraordinary statement -should be well fortified with proofs; and if true it must mean that the -jaguar is an infinitely less formidable creature than it has been -painted. In support of his position Mr. Hudson alludes to the stories -about the cougar attacking the grizzly bear. Here I am on ground that I -do know. It is true that an occasional old hunter asserts that the -cougar does this, but the old hunter who makes such an assertion also -invariably insists that the cougar is a ferocious and habitual -man-killer, and the two statements rest upon equally slender foundations -of fact. I have never yet heard of a single authentic instance of a -cougar interfering with a full-grown big bear. It will kill bear cubs if -it gets a chance; but then so will the fox and the fisher, not to speak -of the wolf. In 1894, a cougar killed a colt on a brushy river bottom a -dozen miles below my ranch on the Little Missouri. I went down to visit -the carcass and found that it had been taken possession of by a large -grizzly. Both I and the hunter who was with me were very much interested -in what had occurred, and after a careful examination of the tracks we -concluded that the bear had arrived on the second night after the kill. -He had feasted heartily on the remains, while the cougar, whose tracks -were evident here and there at a little distance from the carcass, had -seemingly circled around it, and had certainly not interfered with the -bear, or even ventured to approach him. Now, if a cougar would ever have -meddled with a large bear it would surely have been on such an occasion -as this. If very much pressed by hunger, a large cougar will, if it gets -the chance, kill a wolf; but this is only when other game has failed, -and under all ordinary circumstances neither meddles with the other. -When I was down in Texas, hunting peccaries on the Nueces, I was in a -country where both cougar and jaguar were to be found; but no hunter had -ever heard of either molesting the other, though they were all of the -opinion that when the two met the cougar gave the path to his spotted -brother. Of course, it is never safe to dogmatize about the unknown in -zoology, or to generalize on insufficient evidence; but as regards the -North American cougar there is not a particle of truth of any kind, -sort, or description in the statement that he is the enemy of the larger -carnivores, or the friend of man; and if the South American cougar, -which so strongly resembles its Northern brother in its other habits, -has developed on these two points the extraordinary peculiarities of -which Mr. Hudson speaks, full and adequate proof should be forthcoming; -and this proof is now wholly wanting. - -Fables aside, the cougar is a very interesting creature. It is found -from the cold, desolate plains of Patagonia to north of the Canadian -line, and lives alike among the snow-clad peaks of the Andes and in the -steaming forests of the Amazon. Doubtless careful investigation will -disclose several varying forms in an animal found over such immense -tracts of country and living under such utterly diverse conditions. But -in its essential habits and traits, the big, slinking, nearly -uni-colored cat seems to be much the same everywhere, whether living in -mountain, open plain, or forest, under arctic cold or tropic heat. When -the settlements become thick, it retires to dense forest, dark swamp or -inaccessible mountain gorge, and moves about only at night. In wilder -regions it not infrequently roams during the day and ventures freely -into the open. Deer are its customary prey where they are plentiful, -bucks, does, and fawns being killed indifferently. Usually the deer is -killed almost instantaneously, but occasionally there is quite a -scuffle, in which the cougar may get bruised, though, as far as I know, -never seriously. It is also a dreaded enemy of sheep, pigs, calves, and -especially colts, and when pressed by hunger a big male cougar will kill -a full-grown horse or cow, moose or wapiti. It is the special enemy of -mountain sheep. In 1886, while hunting white goats north of Clarke’s -fork of the Columbia, in a region where cougar were common, I found them -preying as freely on the goats as on the deer. It rarely catches -antelope, but is quick to seize rabbits, other small beasts, and even -porcupines, as well as bobcats, coyotes and foxes. - -No animal, not even the wolf, is so rarely seen or so difficult to get -without dogs. On the other hand, no other wild beast of its size and -power is so easy to kill by the aid of dogs. There are many -contradictions in its character. Like the American wolf, it is certainly -very much afraid of man; yet it habitually follows the trail of the -hunter or solitary traveller, dogging his footsteps, itself always -unseen. I have had this happen to me personally. When hungry it will -seize and carry off any dog; yet it will sometimes go up a tree when -pursued even by a single small dog wholly unable to do it the least -harm. It is small wonder that the average frontier settler should grow -to regard almost with superstition the great furtive cat which he never -sees, but of whose presence he is ever aware, and of whose prowess -sinister proof is sometimes afforded by the deaths not alone of his -lesser stock, but even of his milch cow or saddle horse. - -The cougar is as large, as powerful, and as formidably armed as the -Indian panther, and quite as well able to attack man; yet the instances -of its having done so are exceedingly rare. The vast majority of the -tales to this effect are undoubtedly inventions. But it is foolish to -deny that such attacks on human beings ever occur. There are a number of -authentic instances, the latest that has come to my knowledge being -related in the following letter, of May 15, 1893, written to Dr. Merriam -by Professor W. H. Brewer, of Yale: “In 1880 I visited the base of Mount -Shasta, and stopped a day to renew the memories of 1862, when I had -climbed and measured this mountain. Panthers were numerous and were so -destructive to sheep that poisoning by strychnine was common. A man -living near who had (as a young hunter) gone up Mount Shasta with us in -’62, now married (1880) and on a ranch, came to visit me, with a little -son five or six years old. This boy when younger, but two or three years -old, if I recollect rightly, had been attacked by a panther. He was -playing in the yard by the house when a lean two-thirds grown panther -came into the yard and seized the child by the throat. The child -screamed, and alarmed the mother (who told me the story). She seized a -broom and rushed out, while an old man at the house seized the gun. The -panther let go the child and was shot. I saw the boy. He had the scars -of the panther’s teeth in the cheek, and below on the under side of the -lower jaw, and just at the throat. This was the only case that came to -my knowledge at first hand of a panther attacking a human being in that -State, except one or two cases where panthers, exasperated by wounds, -had fought with the hunters who had wounded them.” This was a young -cougar, bold, stupid, and very hungry. Goff told me of one similar case -where a cougar stalked a young girl, but was shot just before it was -close enough to make the final rush. As I have elsewhere related, I know -of two undoubted cases, one in Mississippi, one in Florida, where a -negro was attacked and killed by a cougar, while alone in a swamp at -night. But these occurred many years ago. The instance related by -Professor Brewer is the only one I have come across happening in recent -years, in which the cougar actually seized a human being with the -purpose of making prey of it; though doubtless others have occurred. I -have never known the American wolf actually to attack a human being from -hunger or to make prey of him; whereas the Old-World wolf, like the -Old-World leopard, undoubtedly sometimes turns man-eater. - -Even when hunted the cougar shows itself, as a rule, an abject coward, -not to be compared in courage and prowess with the grizzly bear, and but -little more dangerous to man than is the wolf under similar -circumstances. Without dogs it is usually a mere chance that one is -killed. Goff has killed some 300 cougars during the sixteen years he has -been hunting in northwestern Colorado, yet all but two of them were -encountered while he was with his pack; although this is in a region -where they were plentiful. When hunted with good dogs their attention is -so taken up with the pack that they have little time to devote to men. -When hunted without dogs they never charge unless actually cornered, -and, as a general rule, not even then, unless the man chooses to come -right up to them. I knew of one Indian being killed in 1887, and near my -ranch a cowboy was mauled; but in the first instance the cougar had been -knocked down and the Indian was bending over it when it revived; and in -the next instance, the cowboy literally came right on top of the animal. -Now, under such circumstances either a bull elk or a blacktail buck will -occasionally fight; twice I have known of wounded wapiti regularly -charging, and one of my own cowboys, George Myer, was very roughly -handled by a blacktail buck which he had wounded. In all his experience -Goff says that save when he approached one too close when it was -cornered by the dogs, he never but once had a cougar start to charge -him, and on that occasion it was promptly killed by a bullet. Usually -the cougar does not even charge at the dogs beyond a few feet, confining -itself to seizing or striking any member of the pack which comes close -up; although it will occasionally, when much irritated, make a rapid -dash and seize some bold assailant. While I was on my hunt, one of -Goff’s brothers lost a hound in hunting a cougar; there were but two -hounds, and the cougar would not tree for them, finally seizing and -killing one that came too near. At the same time a ranchman not far off -set his cattle dog on a cougar, which after a short run turned and -killed the dog. But time and again cougars are brought to bay or treed -by dogs powerless to do them the slightest damage; and they usually meet -their death tamely when the hunter comes up. I have had no personal -experience either with the South American jaguar or the Old-World -leopard or panther; but these great spotted cats must be far more -dangerous adversaries than the cougar. - -It is true, as I have said, that a cougar will follow a man; but then a -weasel will sometimes do the same thing. Whatever the cougar’s motive, -it is certain that in the immense majority of cases there is not the -slightest danger of his attacking the man he follows. Dr. Hart Merriam -informs me, however, that he is satisfied that he came across one -genuine instance of a cougar killing a man whose tracks he had dogged. -It cannot be too often repeated, that we must never lose sight of the -individual variation in character and conduct among wild beasts. A -thousand times a cougar might follow a man either not intending or not -daring to attack him, while in the thousandth and first case it might be -that the temper of the beast and the conditions were such that the -attack would be made. - -Other beasts show almost the same wide variation in temper. Wolves, for -instance, are normally exceedingly wary of man. In this Colorado hunt I -often came across their tracks, and often heard their mournful, but to -my ears rather attractive, baying at night, but I never caught a glimpse -of one of them; nor during the years when I spent much of my time on my -ranch did I ever know of a wolf venturing to approach anywhere near a -man in the day-time, though I have had them accompany me after -nightfall, and have occasionally come across them by accident in -daylight. But on the Keystone Ranch, where I spent three weeks on this -particular trip, an incident which occurred before my arrival showed -that wolves occasionally act with extraordinary boldness. The former -owner of the ranch, Colonel Price, and one of the cowhands, Sabey (both -of whom told me the story), were driving out in a buggy from Meeker to -the ranch accompanied by a setter dog. They had no weapon with them. Two -wolves joined them and made every effort to get at the dog. They -accompanied the wagon for nearly a mile, venturing to within twenty -yards of it. They paid no heed whatever to the shouts and gestures of -the men, but did not quite dare to come to close quarters, and finally -abandoned their effort. Now, this action on their part was, as far as my -experience goes, quite as exceptional among American wolves as it is -exceptional for a cougar to attack a man. Of course, these wolves were -not after the men. They were simply after the dog; but I have never -within my own experience come upon another instance of wolves venturing -to attack a domestic animal in the immediate presence of and protected -by a man. Exactly as these two wolves suddenly chose to behave with an -absolutely unexpected daring, so a cougar will occasionally lose the -fear of man which is inherent in its race. - -Normally, then, the cougar is not in any way a formidable foe to man, -and it is certainly by no means as dangerous to dogs as it could be if -its courage and intelligence equalled its power to do mischief. It -strikes with its forepaw like a cat, lacerating the foe with its sharp -claws; or else it holds the animal with them, while the muscular forearm -draws it in until the fatal bite may be inflicted. Whenever possible it -strives to bite an assailant in the head. Occasionally, when fighting -with a large dog, a cougar will throw itself on its back and try to rip -open its antagonist with its hind feet. Male cougars often fight -desperately among themselves. - -Although a silent beast, yet at times, especially during the breeding -season, the males utter a wild scream, and the females also wail or -call. I once heard one cry repeatedly after nightfall, seemingly while -prowling for game. On an evening in the summer of 1897 Dr. Merriam had a -rather singular experience with a cougar. His party was camped in the -forest by Tannum Lake, on the east slope of the Cascades, near the -headwaters of a branch of the Yakima. The horses were feeding near by. -Shortly after dark a cougar cried loudly in the gloom, and the -frightened horses whinnied and stampeded. The cougar cried a number of -times afterward, but the horses did not again answer. None of them was -killed, however; and next morning, after some labor, all were again -gathered together. In 1884 I had a somewhat similar experience with a -bear, in the Big Horn Mountains. - -Occasionally, but not often, the cougars I shot snarled or uttered a -low, thunderous growl as we approached the tree, or as the dogs came -upon them in the cave. In the death-grapple they were silent, excepting -that one young cougar snarled and squalled as it battled with the dogs. - -The cougar is sometimes tamed. A friend of mine had one which was as -good-natured as possible until it was a year old, when it died. But one -kept by another friend, while still quite young, became treacherous and -dangerous. I doubt if they would ever become as trustworthy as a tame -wolf, which, if taken when a very young puppy, will often grow up -exactly like a dog. Two or three years ago there was such a tame wolf -with the Colorado Springs greyhounds. It was safer and more friendly -than many collies, and kept on excellent terms with the great -greyhounds; though these were themselves solely used to hunt wolves and -coyotes, and tackled them with headlong ferocity, having, unaided, -killed a score or two of the large wolves and hundreds of coyotes. - -Hunting in the snow we were able to tell very clearly what the cougars -whose trails we were following had been doing. Goff’s eye for a trail -was unerring, and he read at a glance the lesson it taught. All the -cougars which we came across were living exclusively upon deer, and -their stomachs were filled with nothing else; much hair being mixed with -the meat. In each case the deer was caught by stalking and not by lying -in wait, and the cougar never went up a tree except to get rid of the -dogs. In the day-time it retired to a ledge, or ravine, or dense -thicket, starting to prowl as the dark came on. So far as I could see -the deer in each case was killed by a bite in the throat or neck. The -cougar simply rambled around in likely grounds until it saw or smelled -its quarry, and then crept up stealthily until with one or two -tremendous bounds it was able to seize its prey. If, as frequently -happened, the deer took alarm in time to avoid the first few bounds, it -always got away, for though the cougar is very fast for a short -distance, it has no wind whatever. It cannot pursue a deer for any -length of time, nor run before a dog for more than a few hundred yards, -if the dog is close up at the start. I was informed by the ranchmen that -when in May the deer leave the country, the cougars turn their attention -to the stock, and are very destructive. They have a special fondness for -horseflesh and kill almost every colt where they are plentiful, while -the big males work havoc with the saddle bands on the ranches, as well -as among the brood mares. Except in the case of a female with young they -are roving, wandering beasts, and roam great distances. After leaving -their day lairs, on a ledge, or in a gorge or thicket, they spend the -night travelling across the flats, along the ridges, over the spurs. -When they kill a deer they usually lie not very far away, and do not -again wander until they are hungry. The males travel very long distances -in the mating season. Their breeding-time is evidently irregular. We -found kittens with their eyes not yet open in the middle of January. Two -of the female cougars we killed were pregnant—in one case the young -would have been born almost immediately, that is, in February; and in -the other case in March. One, which had a partially grown young one of -over fifty pounds with it, still had milk in its teats. At the end of -January we found a male and female together, evidently mating. Goff has -also found the young just dropped in May, and even in June. The females -outnumber the males. Of the fourteen we killed, but three were males. - -When a cougar kills a deer in the open it invariably drags it under some -tree or shelter before beginning to eat. All the carcasses we came -across had been thus dragged, the trail showing distinctly in the snow. -Goff, however, asserted that in occasional instances he had known a -cougar to carry a deer so that only its legs trailed on the ground. - -The fourteen cougars we killed showed the widest variation not only in -size but in color, as shown by the following table. Some were as -slaty-gray as deer when in the so-called “blue”; others, rufous, almost -as bright as deer in the “red.” I use these two terms to describe the -color phases; though in some instances the tint was very undecided. The -color phase evidently has nothing to do with age, sex, season, or -locality. In this table the first cougar is the one killed by Stewart, -the sixth by Webb. The length is measured in a straight line, “between -uprights,” from the nose to the extreme tip of the tail, when the beast -was stretched out. The animals were weighed with the steelyard and also -spring scales. Before measuring, we pulled the beast out as straight as -we possibly could; and as the biggest male represents about, or very -nearly, the maximum for the species, it is easy to see that there can be -no basis for the talk one sometimes hears about ten and eleven foot -cougars. No cougar, measured at all fairly, has ever come anywhere near -reaching the length of nine feet. The fresh hide can easily be stretched -a couple of feet extra. Except the first two, all were full-grown; the -biggest male was nearly three times the size of the smallest female. - - ───────────┬───────────┬───────────────────────┬───────────┬─────────── - Sex. │ Color. │ Length. │ Weight. │ Date. - ───────────┼───────────┼───────────────────────┼───────────┼─────────── - │ │ Feet. Inches. │ Pounds. │ 1901. - │ │ │ │ - [1]Female. │Blue. │ 4 11 │ 47 │January 19 - [1]Female. │Red. │ 4 11½ │ 51 │February 12 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 │ 80 │January 14 - Female. │Red. │ 6 4 │ 102 │January 28 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 5 │ 105 │February 12 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 5 │ 107 │January 18 - Female. │Red. │ 6 9 │ 108 │January 24 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 7 │ 118 │January 15 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 7 │ 120 │January 31 - Female. │Red. │ 6 9 │ 124 │February 5 - Female. │Blue. │ 7 │ 133 │February 8 - Male. │Red. │ 7 6 │ 160 │February 13 - Male. │Blue. │ 7 8 │ 164 │January 27 - Male. │Red. │ 8 │ 227 │February 14 - ───────────┴───────────┴───────────────────────┴───────────┴─────────── - -Footnote 1: - - Young. - -I shot five bobcats: two old males weighing 39 and 31 pounds -respectively; and three females, weighing, respectively, 25, 21, and 18 -pounds. Webb killed two, a male of 29 pounds and a female of 20; and -Stewart two females, one of 22 pounds, and the other a young one of 11 -pounds. - -I sent the cougar and bobcat skulls to Dr. Merriam, at the Biological -Survey, Department of Agriculture, Washington. He wrote me as follows: -“The big [cougar] skull is certainly a giant. I have compared it with -the largest in our collection from British Columbia and Wyoming, and -find it larger than either. It is in fact the largest skull of any -member of the _Felis concolor_ group I have seen. A hasty preliminary -examination indicates that the animal is quite different from the -northwest coast form, but that it is the same as my horse-killer from -Wyoming—_Felis hippolestes_. In typical _Felis concolor_ from Brazil the -skull is lighter, the brain-case thinner and more smoothly rounded, -devoid of the strongly developed sagittal crest; the under jaw -straighter and lighter. - -“Your series of skulls from Colorado is incomparably the largest, most -complete and most valuable series ever brought together from any single -locality, and will be of inestimable value in determining the amount of -individual variation.” - - -[Illustration: - - STARTING FOR A HUNT - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -We rode in to the Keystone Ranch late on the evening of the second day -after leaving Meeker. We had picked up a couple of bobcats on the way, -and had found a cougar’s kill (or bait, as Goff called it)—a doe, almost -completely eaten. The dogs puzzled for several hours over the cold trail -of the cougar; but it was old, and ran hither and thither over bare -ground, so that they finally lost it. The ranch was delightfully -situated at the foot of high wooded hills broken by cliffs, and it was -pleasant to reach the warm, comfortable log buildings, with their clean -rooms, and to revel in the abundant, smoking-hot dinner, after the long, -cold hours in the saddle. As everywhere else in the cattle country -nowadays, a successful effort had been made to store water on the -Keystone, and there were great stretches of wire fencing—two -improvements entirely unknown in former days. But the foreman, William -Wilson, and the two punchers or cowhands, Sabey and Collins, were of the -old familiar type—skilled, fearless, hardy, hard-working, with all the -intelligence and self-respect that we like to claim as typical of the -American character at its best. All three carried short saddle guns when -they went abroad, and killed a good many coyotes, and now and then a -gray wolf. The cattle were for the most part grade Herefords, very -different from the wild, slab-sided, long-horned creatures which covered -the cattle country a score of years ago. - -The next day, January 14th, we got our first cougar. This kind of -hunting was totally different from that to which I had been accustomed. -In the first place, there was no need of always being on the alert for a -shot, as it was the dogs who did the work. In the next place, instead of -continually scanning the landscape, what we had to do was to look down -so as to be sure not to pass over any tracks; for frequently a cold -trail would be indicated so faintly that the dogs themselves might pass -it by, if unassisted by Goff’s keen eyes and thorough knowledge of the -habits of the quarry. Finally, there was no object in making an early -start, as what we expected to find was not the cougar, but the cougar’s -trail; moreover, the horses and dogs, tough though they were, could not -stand more than a certain amount, and to ride from sunrise to sunset, -day in and day out, for five weeks, just about tested the limits of -their endurance. - -We made our way slowly up the snow-covered, pinyon-clad side of the -mountain back of the house, and found a very old cougar trail which it -was useless to try to run, and a couple of fresh bobcat trails which it -was difficult to prevent the dogs from following. After criss-crossing -over the shoulders of this mountain for two or three hours, and -scrambling in and out of the ravines, we finally struck another cougar -trail, much more recent, probably made thirty-six hours before. The -hounds had been hunting free to one side or the other of our path. They -were now summoned by a blast of the horn, and with a wave of Goff’s hand -away they went on the trail. Had it been fresh they would have run out -of hearing at once, for it was fearfully rough country. But they were -able to work but slowly along the loops and zigzags of the trail, where -it led across bare spaces, and we could keep well in sight and hearing -of them. Finally they came to where it descended the sheer side of the -mountain and crossed the snow-covered valley beneath. They were still -all together, the pace having been so slow, and in the snow of the -valley the scent was fresh. It was a fine sight to see them as they -rushed across from one side to the other, the cliffs echoing their -chiming. Jim and the three bitches were in the lead, while Boxer fell -behind, as he always did when the pace was fast. - -Leading our horses, we slid and scrambled after the hounds; but when we -reached the valley they had passed out of sight and sound, and we did -not hear them again until we had toiled up the mountain opposite. They -were then evidently scattered, having come upon many bare places; but -while we were listening, and working our way over to the other side of -the divide, the sudden increase in the baying told Goff that they had -struck the fresh trail of the beast they were after; and in two or three -minutes we heard Jim’s deep voice “barking treed.” The three fighters, -who had been trotting at our heels, recognized the difference in the -sound quite as quickly as we did, and plunged at full speed toward it -down the steep hillside, throwing up the snow like so many snowploughs. -In a minute or two the chorus told us that all the dogs were around the -tree, and we picked our way down toward them. - -While we were still some distance off we could see the cougar in a low -pinyon moving about as the dogs tried to get up, and finally knocking -one clean out of the top. It was the first time I had ever seen dogs -with a cougar, and I was immensely interested; but Stewart’s whole -concern was with his camera. When we were within fifty yards of the -tree, and I was preparing to take the rifle out of the scabbard, Stewart -suddenly called “halt,” with the first symptoms of excitement he had -shown, and added, in an eager undertone: “Wait, there is a rabbit right -here, and I want to take his picture.” Accordingly we waited, the cougar -not fifty yards off and the dogs yelling and trying to get up the tree -after it, while Stewart crept up to the rabbit and got a kodak some six -feet distant. Then we resumed our march toward the tree, and the cougar, -not liking the sight of the reinforcements, jumped out. She came down -just outside the pack and ran up hill. So quick was she that the dogs -failed to seize her, and for the first fifty yards she went a great deal -faster than they did. Both in the jump and in the run she held her tail -straight out behind her; I found out afterward that sometimes one will -throw its tail straight in the air, and when walking along, when first -roused by the pack, before they are close, will, if angry, lash the tail -from side to side, at the same time grinning and snarling. - -In a minute the cougar went up another tree, but, as we approached, -again jumped down, and on this occasion, after running a couple of -hundred yards, the dogs seized it. The worry was terrific; the growling, -snarling, and yelling rang among the rocks; and leaving our horses we -plunged at full speed through the snow down the rugged ravine in which -the fight was going on. It was a small though old female, only a few -pounds heavier than either Turk or Jim, and the dogs had the upper hand -when we arrived. They would certainly have killed it unassisted, but as -it was doing some damage to the pack, and might at any moment kill a -dog, I ended the struggle by a knife-thrust behind the shoulder. To -shoot would have been quite as dangerous for the dogs as for their -quarry. Three of the dogs were badly scratched, and Turk had been bitten -through one foreleg, and Boxer through one hind leg. - -[Illustration: - - THE FIRST COUGAR KILLED - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -As will be seen by the measurements given before, this was much the -smallest full-grown cougar we got. It was also one of the oldest, as its -teeth showed, and it gave me a false idea of the size of cougars; -although I knew they varied in size I was not prepared for the wide -variation we actually found. - -The fighting dogs were the ones that enabled me to use the knife. All -three went straight for the head, and when they got hold they kept their -jaws shut, worrying and pulling, and completely absorbing the attention -of the cougar, so as to give an easy chance for the deathblow. The -hounds meanwhile had seized the cougar behind, and Jim, with his -alligator jaws, probably did as much damage as Turk. However, neither in -this nor in any other instance, did any one of the dogs manage to get -its teeth through the thick skin. When cougars fight among themselves -their claws and fangs leave great scars, but their hides are too thick -for the dogs to get their teeth through. On the other hand, a cougar’s -jaws have great power, and dogs are frequently killed by a single bite, -the fangs being driven through the brain or spine; or they break a dog’s -leg or cut the big blood-vessels of the throat. - -I had been anxious to get a set of measurements and weights of cougars -to give to Dr. Hart Merriam. Accordingly I was carrying a tape, while -Goff, instead of a rifle, had a steelyard in his gun scabbard. We -weighed and measured the cougar, and then took lunch, making as -impartial a distribution of it as was possible among ourselves and the -different members of the pack; for, of course, we were already growing -to have a hearty fellow-feeling for each individual dog. - -The next day we were again in luck. After about two hours’ ride we came -upon an old trail. It led among low hills, covered with pinyon and -cedar, and broken by gullies or washouts, in whose sharp sides of clay -the water had made holes and caves. Soon the hounds left it to follow a -bobcat, and we had a lively gallop through the timber, dodging the sharp -snags of the dead branches as best we might. The cat got into a hole in -a side washout; Baldy went in after it, and the rest of us, men and -dogs, clustered about to look in. After a considerable time he put the -cat out of the other end of the hole, nearly a hundred yards off, close -to the main washout. The first we knew of it we saw it coming straight -toward us, its tail held erect like that of a whitetail deer. Before -either we or the dogs quite grasped the situation it bolted into another -hole almost at our feet, and this time Baldy could not find it, or else -could not get at it. Then we took up the cougar trail again. It -criss-crossed in every direction. We finally found an old “bait,” a -buck. It was interesting to see the way in which the cougar had prowled -from point to point, and the efforts it had made to approach the deer -which it saw or smelled. Once we came to where it had sat down on the -edge of a cliff, sitting on its haunches with its long tail straight -behind it and looking out across the valley. After it had killed, -according to the invariable custom of its kind, it had dragged the deer -from the open, where it had overtaken it, to the shelter of a group of -trees. - -We finally struck the fresh trail; but it, also, led hither and thither, -and we got into such a maze of tracks that the dogs were completely -puzzled. After a couple of hours of vain travelling to and fro, we gave -up the effort, called the dogs off, and started back beside a large -washout which led along between two ridges. Goff, as usual, was leading, -the dogs following and continually skirting to one side or the other. -Suddenly they all began to show great excitement, and then one gave -furious tongue at the mouth of a hole in some sunken and broken ground -not thirty yards to our right. The whole pack rushed toward the -challenge, the fighters leaped into the hole, and in another moment the -row inside told us that they had found a cougar at home. We jumped off -and ran down to see if we could be of assistance. To get into the hole -was impossible, for two or three hounds had jumped down to join the -fighters, and we could see nothing but their sterns. Then we saw Turk -backing out with a dead kitten in his mouth. I had supposed that a -cougar would defend her young to the last, but such was not the case in -this instance. For some minutes she kept the dogs at bay, but then -gradually gave ground, leaving her three kittens. Of course, the dogs -killed them instantly, much to our regret, as we would have given a good -deal to have kept them alive. As soon as she had abandoned them, away -she went completely through the low cave or hole, leaped out of the -other end, which was some thirty or forty yards off, scaled the bank, -and galloped into the woods, the pack getting after her at once. She did -not run more than a couple of hundred yards, and as we tore up on our -horses we saw her standing in the lower branches of a pinyon only six or -eight feet from the ground. She was not snarling or grinning, and looked -at us as quietly as if nothing had happened. As we leaped out of the -saddles she jumped down from the tree and ran off through the pack. They -were after her at once, however, and a few yards farther on she started -up another tree. Either Tony or Baldy grabbed her by the tip of the -tail, she lost her footing for a moment, and the whole pack seized her. -She was a powerful female of about the average size, being half as heavy -again as the one we first got, and made a tremendous fight; and savage -enough she looked, her ears tight back against her head, her yellow eyes -flashing, and her great teeth showing as she grinned. For a moment the -dogs had her down, but biting and striking she freed her head and fore -quarters from the fighters, and faced us as we ran up, the hounds still -having her from behind. This was another chance for the knife, and I -cheered on the fighters. Again they seized her by the head, but though -absolutely stanch dogs, their teeth, as I have said, had begun to -suffer, and they were no longer always able to make their holds good. -Just as I was about to strike her she knocked Turk loose with a blow, -bit Baldy, and then, her head being free, turned upon me. Fortunately, -Tony caught her free paw on that side, while I jammed the gun-butt into -her jaws with my left hand and struck home with the right, the knife -driving straight to the heart. The deep fang marks she left in the -stock, biting the corner of the shoulder clean off, gave an idea of the -power of her jaws. If it had been the very big male cougar which I -afterward killed, the stock would doubtless have been bitten completely -in two. - -The dogs were pretty well damaged, and all retired and lay down under -the trees, where they licked their wounds, and went to sleep; growling -savagely at one another when they waked, but greeting us with -demonstrative affection, and trotting eagerly out to share our lunch as -soon as we began to eat it. Unaided, they would ultimately have killed -the cougar, but the chance of one or two of them being killed or -crippled was too great for us to allow this to be done; and in the -mix-up of the struggle it was not possible to end it with the rifle. The -writhing, yelling tangle offered too shifting a mark; one would have -been as apt to hit a dog as the cougar. Goff told me that the pack had -often killed cougars unassisted; but in the performance of such feats -the best dogs were frequently killed, and this was not a risk to be -taken lightly. - -In some books the writers speak as if the male and female cougar live -together and jointly seek food for the young. We never found a male -cougar anywhere near either a female with young or a pregnant female. -According to my observation the male only remains with the female for a -short time, during the mating season, at which period he travels great -distances in search of his temporary mates—for the females far outnumber -the males. The cougar is normally a very solitary beast. The young—two -to four in number, though more than one or two rarely grow up—follow the -mother until over half grown. The mother lives entirely alone with the -kittens while they are small. As the males fight so fiercely among -themselves, it may be that the old he-cougars kill the young of their -own sex; a ranchman whom I knew once found the body of a young male -cougar which had evidently been killed by an old one; but I cannot say -whether or not this was an exceptional case. - -During the next ten days Stewart and Webb each shot a cougar. Webb’s was -got by as pretty an exhibition of trailing on the part of Goff and his -hounds as one could wish to see. We ran across its old tracks while -coming home on Wednesday, January 16th. The next day, Thursday, we took -up the trail, but the animal had travelled a long distance; and, as -cougars so often do, had spent much of its time walking along ledges, or -at the foot of the cliffs, where the sun had melted the snow off the -ground. In consequence, the dogs were often at fault. Moreover, bobcats -were numerous, and twice the pack got after one, running a couple of -hours before, in one instance, the cat went into a cave, and, in the -other, took to a tree, where it was killed by Webb. At last, when -darkness came on, we were forced to leave the cougar trail and ride -home; a very attractive ride, too, loping rapidly over the snow-covered -flats, while above us the great stars fairly blazed in the splendor of -the winter night. - -Early next morning we again took up the trail, and after a little while -found where it was less than thirty-six hours old. The dogs now ran it -well, but were thrown out again on a large bare hillside, until Boxer -succeeded in recovering the scent. They went up a high mountain and we -toiled after them. Again they lost the trail, and while at fault jumped -a big bobcat which they ran up a tree. After shooting him we took lunch, -and started to circle for the trail. Most of the dogs kept with Goff, -but Jim got off to one side on his own account; and suddenly his baying -told us that he had jumped the cougar. The rest of the pack tore toward -him and after a quarter of a mile run they had the quarry treed. The -ground was too rough for riding, and we had to do some stiff climbing to -get to it on foot. - -Stewart’s cougar was a young of the year, and, according to his custom, -he took several photographs of it. Then he tried to poke it so that it -would get into a better position for the camera; whereupon it jumped out -of the tree and ran headlong down hill, the yelling dogs but a few feet -behind. Our horses had been left a hundred yards or so below, where they -all stood, moping, with their heads drooped and their eyes half shut, in -regular cow-pony style. The chase streamed by not a yard from their -noses, but evidently failed to arouse even an emotion of interest in -their minds, for they barely looked up, and made not a movement of any -kind when the cougar treed again just below them. - -We killed several bobcats; and we also got another cougar, this time in -rather ignominious fashion. We had been running a bobcat, having an -excellent gallop, during the course of which Stewart’s horse turned a -somersault. Without our knowledge the dogs changed to the fresh trail of -a cougar, which they ran into its den in another cut bank. When we -reached the place they had gone in after it, Baldy dropping into a hole -at the top of the bank, while the others crawled into the main entrance, -some twenty-five yards off at the bottom. It was evidently a very rough -house inside, and above the baying, yelping, and snarling of the dogs we -could hear the rumbling overtone of the cougar’s growl. On this day we -had taken along Queen, the white bull bitch, to “enter” her at cougar. -It was certainly a lively experience for a first entry. We reached the -place in time to keep Jim and the hound bitches out of the hole. It was -evident that the dogs could do nothing with the cougar inside. They -could only come at it in front, and under such circumstances its claws -and teeth made the odds against them hopeless. Every now and then it -would charge, driving them all back, and we would then reach in, seize a -dog and haul him out. At intervals there would be an awful yelling and a -hound would come out bleeding badly, quite satisfied, and without the -slightest desire to go in again. Poor Baldy was evidently killed inside. -Queen, Turk, and Tony were badly clawed and bitten, and we finally got -them out too; Queen went in three times, and came out on each occasion -with a fresh gash or bite; Turk was, at the last, the only one really -anxious to go in again. Then we tried to smoke out the cougar, for as -one of the dogs had gotten into the cave through an upper entrance, we -supposed the cougar could get out by the same route. However, it either -could not or would not bolt; coming down close to the entrance where we -had built the sage-brush fire, there it stayed until it was smothered. -We returned to the ranch carrying its skin, but not over-pleased, and -the pack much the worse for wear. Dr. Webb had to sew up the wounds of -three of the dogs. One, Tony, was sent back to the home ranch, where he -died. In such rough hunting as this, it is of course impossible to -prevent occasional injuries to the dogs when they get the cougar in a -cave, or overtake him on the ground. All that can be done is to try to -end the contest as speedily as possible, which we always did. - -[Illustration: - - AFTER THE FIGHT - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Judging from the experience of certain friends of mine in the Argentine, -I think it would be safe to crawl into a cave to shoot a cougar under -normal circumstances; but in this instance the cave was a long, winding -hole, so low that we could not get in on hands and knees, having to work -our way on our elbows. It was pitch dark inside, so that the rifle -sights could not be seen, and the cougar was evidently very angry and -had on two or three occasions charged the dogs, driving them out of the -entrance of the hole. In the dark, the chances were strongly against -killing it with a single shot; while if only wounded, and if it had -happened to charge, the man, in his cramped position, would have been -utterly helpless. - -The day after the death of the smoked-out cougar Stewart and Webb -started home. Then it snowed for two days, keeping us in the ranch. -While the snow was falling, there was no possibility of finding or -following tracks; and as a rule wild creatures lie close during a storm. -We were glad to have fresh snow, for the multitude of tracks in the old -snow had become confusing; and not only the southern hillsides but the -larger valleys had begun to grow bare, so that trailing was difficult. - -The third day dawned in brilliant splendor, and when the sun arose all -the land glittered dazzling white under his rays. The hounds were -rested, we had fresh horses, and after an early breakfast we started to -make a long circle. All the forenoon and early afternoon we plodded -through the snowdrifts, up and down the valleys, and along the ridge -crests, without striking a trail. The dogs trotted behind us or circled -from one side to the other. It was no small test of their stanchness, -eager and fresh as they were, for time after time we aroused bands of -deer, to which they paid no heed whatever. At last, in mid-afternoon, we -suddenly struck the tracks of two cougars, one a very large one, an old -male. They had been playing and frolicking together, for they were -evidently mating, and the snow in the tracks showed that they had -started abroad before the storm was entirely over. For three hours the -pack followed the cold trail, through an exceedingly rugged and -difficult country, in which Goff helped them out again and again. - -Just at sunset the cougars were jumped, and ran straight into and -through a tangle of spurs and foothills, broken by precipices, and riven -by long deep ravines. The two at first separated and then came together, -with the result that Tree’em, Bruno, and Jimmie got on the back trail -and so were left far behind; while old Boxer also fell to the rear, as -he always did when the scent was hot, and Jim and the bitches were left -to do the running by themselves. In the gathering gloom we galloped -along the main divide, my horse once falling on a slippery sidehill, as -I followed headlong after Goff—whose riding was like the driving of the -son of Nimshi. The last vestige of sunlight disappeared, but the full -moon was well up in the heavens when we came to a long spur, leading off -to the right for two or three miles, beyond which we did not think the -chase could have gone. It had long run out of hearing. Making our way -down the rough and broken crest of this spur, we finally heard far off -the clamorous baying which told us that the hounds had their quarry at -bay. We did not have the fighters with us, as they were still under the -weather from the results of their encounter in the cave. - -As it afterward appeared, the cougars had run three miles before the -dogs overtook them, making their way up, down and along such difficult -cliffs that the pack had to keep going round. The female then went up a -tree, while the pack followed the male. He would not climb a tree and -came to bay on the edge of a cliff. A couple of hundred yards from the -spot, we left the horses and scrambled along on foot, guided by the -furious clamor of the pack. When we reached them, the cougar had gone -along the face of the cliff, most of the dogs could not see him, and it -was some time before we could make him out ourselves. Then I got up -quite close. Although the moonlight was bright I could not see the -sights of my rifle, and fired a little too far back. The bullet, -however, inflicted a bad wound, and the cougar ran along a ledge, -disappearing around the cliff-shoulder. The conduct of the dogs showed -that he had not left the cliff, but it was impossible to see him either -from the sides or from below. The cliff was about a hundred feet high -and the top overhung the bottom, while from above the ground sloped down -to the brink at a rather steep angle, so that we had to be cautious -about our footing. There was a large projecting rock on the brink; to -this I clambered down, and, holding it with one hand, peeped over the -edge. After a minute or two I made out first the tail and then the head -of the cougar, who was lying on a narrow ledge only some ten feet below -me, his body hidden by the overhang of the cliff. Thanks to the -steepness of the incline, I could not let go of the rock with my left -hand, because I should have rolled over; so I got Goff to come down, -brace his feet against the projection, and grasp me by my legs. He then -lowered me gently down until my head and shoulders were over the edge -and my arms free; and I shot the cougar right between the ears, he being -in a straight line underneath me. The dogs were evidently confident that -he was going to be shot, for they had all gathered below the cliff to -wait for him to fall; and sure enough, down he came with a crash, -luckily not hitting any of them. We could hear them seize him, and they -all, dead cougar and worrying dogs, rolled at least a hundred yards down -the steep slope before they were stopped by a gully. It was an -interesting experience, and one which I shall not soon forget. We -clambered down to where the dogs were, admired our victim, and made up -our minds not to try to skin him until the morning. Then we led down our -horses, with some difficulty, into the snow-covered valley, mounted -them, and cantered home to the ranch, under the cold and brilliant moon, -through a white wonderland of shimmering light and beauty. - -Next morning we came back as early as possible, intending first to skin -the male and then to hunt up the female. A quarter of a mile before we -reached the carcass we struck her fresh trail in the snow of the valley. -Calling all the dogs together and hustling them forward, we got them -across the trail without their paying any attention to it; for we wanted -to finish the job of skinning before taking up the hunt. However, when -we got off our horses and pulled the cougar down to a flat place to skin -it, Nellie, who evidently remembered that there had been another cougar -besides the one we had accounted for, started away on her own account -while we were not looking. The first thing we knew we heard her giving -tongue on the mountains above us, in such rough country that there was -no use in trying to head her off. Accordingly we jumped on the horses -again, rode down to where we had crossed the trail and put the whole -pack on it. After crossing the valley the cougar had moved along the -ledges of a great spur or chain of foothills, and as this prevented the -dogs going too fast we were able to canter alongside them up the valley, -watching them and listening to their chiming. We finally came to a large -hillside bare of snow, much broken with rocks, among which grew patches -of brush and scattered pinyons. Here the dogs were at fault for over an -hour. It had evidently been a favorite haunt of the cougars; they had -moved to and fro across it, and had lain sunning themselves in the dust -under the ledges. Owing to the character of the ground we could give the -hounds no assistance, but they finally puzzled out the trail for -themselves. We were now given a good illustration of the impossibility -of jumping a cougar without dogs, even when in a general way its haunt -is known. We rode along the hillside, and quartered it to and fro, on -the last occasion coming down a spur where we passed within two or three -rods of the brush in which the cougar was actually lying; but she never -moved and it was impossible to see her. When we finally reached the -bottom, the dogs had disentangled the trail; and they passed behind us -at a good rate, going up almost where we had come down. Even as we -looked we saw the cougar rise from her lair, only fifty yards or so -ahead of them, her red hide showing bright in the sun. It was a very -pretty run to watch while it lasted. She left them behind at first, but -after a quarter of a mile they put her up a pinyon. Approaching -cautiously—for the climbing was hard work and I did not wish to frighten -her out of the tree if it could be avoided, lest she might make such a -run as that of the preceding evening—I was able to shoot her through the -heart. She died in the branches, and I climbed the tree to throw her -down. The only skill needed in such shooting is in killing the cougar -outright so as to save the dogs. Six times on the hunt I shot the cougar -through the heart. Twice the animal died in the branches. In the other -four cases it sprang out of the tree, head and tail erect, eyes blazing, -and the mouth open in a grin of savage hate and anger; but it was -practically dead when it touched the ground. - -[Illustration: - - COUGAR IN A TREE - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Although these cougars were mates, they were not of the same color, the -female being reddish, while the male was slate-colored. In weighing this -male we had to take off the hide and weigh it separately (with the head -and paws attached), for our steelyard only went up to 150 pounds. When -we came to weigh the biggest male we had to take off the quarters as -well as the hide. - -Thinking that we had probably exhausted the cougars around the Keystone -Ranch, we spent the next fortnight off on a trip. We carried only what -we could put in the small saddle-pockets—our baggage being as strictly -limited as it ought to be with efficient cavalry who are on an active -campaign. We worked hard, but, as so often happens, our luck was not in -proportion to our labor. - -The first day we rode to the Mathes brothers’ ranch. On the high divides -it was very cold, the thermometer standing at nearly twenty degrees -below zero. But we were clad for just such weather, and were not -uncomfortable. The three Mathes brothers lived together, with the wives -and children of the two married ones. Their ranch was in a very -beautiful and wild valley, the pinyon-crowned cliffs rising in walls on -either hand. Deer were abundant and often in sight from the ranch doors. -At night the gray wolves came down close to the buildings and howled for -hours among the precipices, under the light of the full moon. The still -cold was intense; but I could not resist going out for half an hour at a -time to listen to them. To me their baying, though a very eerie and -lonesome sound, full of vaguely sinister associations, has, -nevertheless, a certain wild music of its own which is far from being -without charm. - -We did not hear the cougars calling, for they are certainly nothing like -as noisy as wolves; yet the Mathes brothers had heard them several -times, and once one of them had crept up and seen the cougar, which -remained in the same place for many minutes, repeating its cry -continually. The Mathes had killed but two cougars, not having any dogs -trained to hunt them. One of these was killed under circumstances which -well illustrate the queer nature of the animal. The three men, with one -of their two cattle dogs, were walking up the valley not half a mile -above the ranch-house, when they saw a cougar crossing in front of them, -a couple of hundred yards off. As soon as she saw them she crouched flat -down with her head toward them, remaining motionless. Two, with the dog, -stayed where they were, while the other ran back to the ranch-house for -a rifle and for the other dog. No sooner had he gone than the cougar -began deliberately to crawl toward the men who were left. She came on -slowly but steadily, crouched almost flat to the ground. The two unarmed -men were by no means pleased with her approach. They waved their hands -and jumped about and shouted; but she kept approaching, although slowly, -and was well within a hundred yards when the other brother arrived, out -of breath, accompanied by the other dog. At sight of him she jumped up, -ran off a couple of hundred yards, went up a tree, and was killed. I do -not suppose she would have attacked the men; but as there was an -unpleasant possibility that she might, they both felt distinctly more -comfortable when their brother rejoined them with the rifle. - -There was a good deal of snowy weather while we were at the Mathes -ranch, but we had fair luck, killing two cougars. It was most -comfortable, for the ranch was clean and warm, and the cooking -delicious. It does not seem to me that I ever tasted better milk and -butter, hot biscuits, rice, potatoes, pork and bulberry and wild-plum -jam; and of course the long days on horseback in the cold weather gave -an edge to our appetites. One stormy day we lost the hounds, and we -spent most of the next day in finding such of them as did not come -straggling in of their own accord. The country was very rough, and it -was astounding to see some of the places up and down which we led the -horses. Sometimes I found that my horse climbed rather better than I -did, for he would come up some awkward-looking slope with such a rush -that I literally had to scramble on all-fours to get out of his way. - -There was no special incident connected with killing either of these two -cougars. In one case Goff himself took the lead in working out the trail -and preventing the hounds getting off after bobcats. In the other case -the trail was fresher and the dogs ran it by themselves, getting into a -country where we could not follow; it was very rough, and the cliffs and -gorges rang with their baying. In both cases they had the cougar treed -for about three hours before we were able to place them and walk up to -them. It was hard work, toiling through the snow over the cliffs toward -the baying; and on each occasion the cougar leaped from the tree at our -approach, and ran a quarter of a mile or so before going up another, -where it was shot. As I came up to shoot, most of the dogs paid no -attention, but Boxer and Nellie always kept looking at me until I -actually raised the rifle, when they began to spring about the spot -where they thought the cougar would come down. The cougar itself always -seemed to recognize the man as the dangerous opponent; and as I strode -around to find a place from whence I could deliver an instantaneously -fatal shot, it would follow me steadily with its evil yellow eyes. I -came up very close, but the beasts never attempted to jump at me. -Judging from what one reads in books about Indian and African game, a -leopard under such circumstances would certainly sometimes charge. - -Three days of our trip were spent on a ride to Colorow Mountain; we went -down to Judge Foreman’s ranch on White River to pass the night. We got -another cougar on the way. She must really be credited to Jim. The other -dogs were following in our footsteps through the snow, after having made -various futile excursions of their own. When we found that Jim was -missing, we tried in vain to recall him with the horn, and at last -started to hunt him up. After an hour’s ride we heard him off on the -mountain, evidently following a trail, but equally evidently not yet -having jumped the animal. The hounds heard him quite as quickly as we -did, and started toward him. Soon we heard the music of the whole pack, -which grew fainter and fainter, and was lost entirely as they -disappeared around a spur, and then began to grow loud again, showing -that they were coming toward us. Suddenly a change in the note convinced -us that they had jumped the quarry. We stood motionless; nearer and -nearer they came; and then a sudden burst of clamor proclaimed that they -were barking treed. We had to ride only a couple of hundred yards; I -shot the cougar from across a little ravine. She was the largest female -we got. - -The dogs were a source of unceasing amusement, not merely while hunting, -but because of their relations to one another when off duty. Queen’s -temper was of the shortest toward the rest of the pack, although, like -Turk, she was fond of literally crawling into my lap, when we sat down -to rest after the worry which closed the chase. As soon as I began to -eat my lunch, all the dogs clustered close around and I distributed -small morsels to each in turn. Once Jimmie, Queen, and Boxer were -sitting side by side, tightly wedged together. I treated them with -entire impartiality; and soon Queen’s feelings overcame her, and she -unostentatiously but firmly bit Jimmie in the jaw. Jimmie howled -tremendously and Boxer literally turned a back somersault, evidently -fearing lest his turn should come next. - -On February 11th we rode back to the Keystone Ranch, carrying the three -cougar skins behind our saddles. It was again very cold, and the snow on -the divides was so deep that our horses wallowed through it up to their -saddle-girths. I supposed that my hunt was practically at an end, for I -had but three days left; but as it turned out these were the three most -lucky days of the whole trip. - -The weather was beautiful, the snow lying deep enough to give the dogs -easy trailing even on the southern slopes. Under the clear skies the -landscape was dazzling, and I had to wear snow-glasses. On the first of -the three days, February 12th, we had not ridden half an hour from the -ranch before we came across the trail of a very big bobcat. It was so -heavy that it had broken through the crust here and there, and we -decided that it was worth following. The trail went up a steep mountain -to the top, and we followed on foot after the dogs. Among the cliffs on -the top they were completely at fault, hunting every which way. After -awhile Goff suddenly spied the cat, which had jumped off the top of a -cliff into a pinyon. I killed it before any of the dogs saw it, and at -the shot they all ran in the wrong direction. When they did find us -skinning it, they were evidently not at all satisfied that it was really -their bobcat—the one which they had been trailing. Usually as soon as -the animal was killed they all lay down and dozed off; but on this -occasion they kept hurrying about and then in a body started on the back -trail. It was some time before we could get them together again. - -After we had brought them in we rode across one or two ridges, and up -and down the spurs without finding anything, until about noon we struck -up a long winding valley where we came across one or two old cougar -trails. The pack were following in our footsteps behind the horses, -except Jim, who took off to one side by himself. Suddenly he began to -show signs that he had come across traces of game; and in another moment -he gave tongue and all the hounds started toward him. They quartered -around in the neighborhood of a little gulch for a short while, and then -streamed off up the mountain-side; and before they had run more than a -couple of minutes we heard them barking treed. By making a slight turn -we rode almost up to the tree, and saw that their quarry was a young -cougar. As we came up, it knocked Jimmie right out of the tree. On -seeing us it jumped down and started to run, but it was not quite quick -enough. Turk seized it and in a minute the dogs had it stretched out. It -squalled, hissed, and made such a good fight that I put an end to the -struggle with the knife, fearing lest it might maim one of the hounds. - -While Goff was skinning it I wandered down to the kill near which it had -been lying. This was a deer, almost completely devoured. It had been -killed in the valley and dragged up perhaps a hundred yards to some -cedars. I soon saw from the tracks around the carcass that there was an -older cougar with the younger one—doubtless its mother—and walked back -to Goff with the information. Before I got there, however, some of the -pack had made the discovery for themselves. Jim, evidently feeling that -he had done his duty, had curled up and gone to sleep, with most of the -others; but old Boxer and the three bitches (Pete had left her pups and -joined us about the time we roused the big bobcat), hunted about until -they struck the fresh trail of the old female. They went off at a great -rate, and the sleeping dogs heard them and scampered away to the sound. -The trail led them across a spur, into a valley, and out of it up the -precipitous side of another mountain. When we got to the edge of the -valley we could hear them barking treed nearly at the summit of the -mountain opposite. It was over an hour’s stiff climbing before we made -our way around to them, although we managed to get the horses up to -within a quarter of a mile of the spot. On approaching we found the -cougar in a leaning pinyon on a ledge at the foot of a cliff. Jimmie was -in the lower branches of the pinyon, and Turk up above him, within a few -feet of the cougar. Evidently he had been trying to tackle her and had -been knocked out of the tree at least once, for he was bleeding a good -deal and there was much blood on the snow beneath. Yet he had come back -into the tree, and was barking violently not more than three feet beyond -her stroke. She kept up a low savage growling, and as soon as I -appeared, fixed her yellow eyes on me, glaring and snarling as I worked -around into a place from which I could kill her outright. Meanwhile Goff -took up his position on the other side, hoping to get a photograph when -I shot. My bullet went right through her heart. She bit her paw, -stretched up her head and bit a branch, and then died where she was, -while Turk leaped forward at the crack of the rifle and seized her in -the branches. I had some difficulty in bundling him and Jimmie out of -the tree as I climbed up to throw down the cougar. - -Next morning we started early, intending to go to Juniper Mountain, -where we had heard that cougars were plentiful; but we had only ridden -about half an hour from the ranch when we came across a trail which by -the size we knew must belong to an old male. It was about thirty-six -hours old and led into a tangle of bad lands where there was great -difficulty in working it out. Finally, however, we found where it left -these bad lands and went straight up a mountain-side, too steep for the -horses to follow. From the plains below we watched the hounds working to -and fro until they entered a patch of pinyons in which we were certain -the cougar had killed a deer, as ravens and magpies were sitting around -in the trees. In these pinyons the hounds were again at fault for a -little while, but at last evidently found the right trail, and followed -it up over the hill-crest and out of sight. We then galloped hard along -the plain to the left, going around the end of the ridge and turning to -our right on the other side. Here we entered a deep narrow valley or -gorge which led up to a high plateau at the farther end. On our right, -as we rode up the valley, lay the high and steep ridge over which the -hounds had followed the trail. On the left it was still steeper, the -slope being broken by ledges and precipices. Near the mouth of the gorge -we encountered the hounds, who had worked the trail down and across the -gorge, and were now hunting up the steep cliff-shoulder on our left. -Evidently the cougar had wandered to and fro over this shoulder, and the -dogs were much puzzled and worked in zigzags and circles around it, -gradually getting clear to the top. Then old Boxer suddenly gave tongue -with renewed zest and started off at a run almost on top of the ridge, -the other dogs following. Immediately afterward they jumped the cougar. - -We had been waiting below to see which direction the chase would take -and now put spurs to our horses and galloped up the ravine, climbing the -hillside on our right so as to get a better view of what was happening. -A few hundred yards of this galloping and climbing brought us again in -sight of the hounds. They were now barking treed and were clustered -around a pinyon below the ridge crest on the side hill opposite us. The -two fighters, Turk and Queen, who had been following at our horses’ -heels, appreciated what had happened as soon as we did, and, leaving us, -ran down into the valley and began to work their way through the deep -snow up the hillside opposite, toward where the hounds were. Ours was an -ideal position for seeing the whole chase. In a minute the cougar jumped -out of the tree down among the hounds, who made no attempt to seize him, -but followed him as soon as he had cleared their circle. He came down -hill at a great rate and jumped over a low cliff, bringing after him -such an avalanche of snow that it was a moment before I caught sight of -him again, this time crouched on a narrow ledge some fifteen or twenty -feet below the brink from which he had jumped, and about as far above -the foot of the cliff, where the steep hill-slope again began. The -hounds soon found him and came along the ledge barking loudly, but not -venturing near where he lay facing them, with his back arched like a -great cat. Turk and Queen were meanwhile working their way up hill. Turk -got directly under the ledge and could not find a way up. Queen went to -the left and in a minute we saw her white form as she made her way -through the dark-colored hounds straight for the cougar. “That’s the end -of Queen,” said Goff; “he’ll kill her now, sure.” In another moment she -had made her rush and the cougar, bounding forward, had seized her, and -as we afterward discovered had driven his great fangs right through the -side of her head, fortunately missing the brain. In the struggle he lost -his footing and rolled off the ledge, and when they struck the ground -below he let go of the bitch. Turk, who was near where they struck, was -not able to spring for the hold he desired, and in another moment the -cougar was coming down hill like a quarter-horse. We stayed perfectly -still, as he was travelling in our direction. Queen was on her feet -almost as quick as the cougar, and she and Turk tore after him, the -hounds following in a few seconds, being delayed in getting off the -ledge. It was astonishing to see the speed of the cougar. He ran -considerably more than a quarter of a mile down hill, and at the end of -it had left the dogs more than a hundred yards behind. But his bolt was -shot, and after going perhaps a hundred yards or so up the hill on our -side and below us, he climbed a tree, under which the dogs began to bay -frantically, while we scrambled toward them. When I got down I found him -standing half upright on a big branch, his forepaws hung over another -higher branch, his sides puffing like bellows, and evidently completely -winded. In scrambling up the pinyon he must have struck a patch of -resin, for it had torn a handful of hair off from behind his right -forearm. I shot him through the heart. At the shot he sprang clean into -the top of the tree, head and tail up, and his face fairly demoniac with -rage; but before he touched the ground he was dead. Turk jumped up, -seized him as he fell, and the two rolled over a low ledge, falling -about eight feet into the snow, Turk never losing his hold. - -No one could have wished to see a prettier chase under better -circumstances. It was exceedingly interesting. The only dog hurt was -Queen, and very miserable indeed she looked. She stood in the trail, -refusing to lie down or to join the other dogs, as, with prodigious -snarls at one another, they ate the pieces of the carcass we cut out for -them. Dogs hunting every day, as these were doing, and going through -such terrific exertion, need enormous quantities of meat, and as old -horses and crippled steers were not always easy to get, we usually fed -them the cougar carcasses. On this occasion, when they had eaten until -they could eat no longer, I gave most of my lunch to Queen—Boxer, who -after his feast could hardly move, nevertheless waddling up with his -ears forward to beg a share. Queen evidently felt that the lunch was a -delicacy, for she ate it, and then trotted home behind us with the rest -of the dogs. Rather to my astonishment, next day she was all right, and -as eager to go with us as ever. Though one side of her head was much -swollen, in her work she showed no signs of her injuries. - -[Illustration: - - “BARKING TREED” - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Early the following morning, February 14th, the last day of my actual -hunting, we again started for Juniper Mountain, following the same -course on which we had started the previous day. Before we had gone a -mile, that is, only about half-way to where we had come across the -cougar track the preceding day, we crossed another, and as we deemed a -fresher, trail, which Goff pronounced to belong to a cougar even larger -than the one we had just killed. The hounds were getting both weary and -footsore, but the scent put heart into them and away they streamed. They -followed it across a sage-brush flat, and then worked along under the -base of a line of cliffs—cougar being particularly apt thus to travel at -the foot of cliffs. The pack kept well together, and it was pleasant, as -we cantered over the snowy plain beside them, to listen to their baying, -echoed back from the cliffs above. Then they worked over the hill and we -spurred ahead and turned to the left, up the same gorge or valley in -which we had killed the cougar the day before. The hounds followed the -trail straight to the cliff-shoulder where the day before the pack had -been puzzled until Boxer struck the fresh scent. Here they seemed to be -completely at fault, circling everywhere, and at one time following -their track of yesterday over to the pinyon-tree up which the cougar had -first gone. - -We made our way up the ravine to the head of the plateau, and then, -turning, came back along the ridge until we reached the top of the -shoulder where the dogs had been; but when we got there they had -disappeared. It did not seem likely that the cougar had crossed the -ravine behind us—although as a matter of fact this was exactly what had -happened—and we did not know what to make of the affair. - -We could barely hear the hounds; they had followed their back trail of -the preceding day, toward the place where we had first come across the -tracks of the cougar we had already killed. We were utterly puzzled, -even Goff being completely at fault, and we finally became afraid that -the track which the pack had been running was one which, instead of -having been made during the night, had been there the previous morning, -and had been made by the dead cougar. This meant, of course, that we had -passed it without noticing it, both going and coming, on the previous -day, and knowing Goff’s eye for a track I could not believe this. He, -however, thought we might have confused it with some of the big wolf -tracks, of which a number had crossed our path. After some hesitation, -he said that at any rate we could find out the truth by getting back -into the flat and galloping around to where we had begun our hunt the -day before; because if the dogs really had a fresh cougar before them he -must have so short a start that they were certain to tree him by the -time they got across the ridge crest. Accordingly we scrambled down the -precipitous mountain-side, galloped along the flat around the end of the -ridge and drew rein at about the place where we had first come across -the cougar trail on the previous day. Not a dog was to be heard -anywhere, and Goff’s belief that the pack was simply running a back -track became a certainty both in his mind and mine, when Jim suddenly -joined us, evidently having given up the chase. We came to the -conclusion that Jim, being wiser than the other dogs, had discovered his -mistake while they had not; “he just naturally quit,” said Goff. - -After some little work we found where the pack had crossed the broad -flat valley into a mass of very rough broken country, the same in which -I had shot my first big male by moonlight. Cantering and scrambling -through this stretch of cliffs and valleys, we began to hear the dogs, -and at first were puzzled because once or twice it seemed as though they -were barking treed or had something at bay; always, however, as we came -nearer we could again hear them running a trail, and when we finally got -up tolerably close we found that they were all scattered out. Boxer was -far behind, and Nellie, whose feet had become sore, was soberly -accompanying him, no longer giving tongue. The others were separated one -from the other, and we finally made out Tree’em all by himself, and not -very far away. In vain Goff called and blew his horn; Tree’em -disappeared up a high hillside, and with muttered comments on his -stupidity we galloped our horses along the valley around the foot of the -hill, hoping to intercept him. No sooner had we come to the other side, -however, than we heard Tree’em evidently barking treed. We looked at one -another, wondering whether he had come across a bobcat, or whether it -had really been a fresh cougar trail after all. - -Leaving our horses we scrambled up the canyon until we got in sight of a -large pinyon on the hillside, underneath which Tree’em was standing, -with his preposterous tail arched like a pump-handle, as he gazed -solemnly up in the tree, now and then uttering a bark at a huge cougar, -which by this time we could distinctly make out standing in the -branches. Turk and Queen had already left us and were running hard to -join Tree’em, and in another minute or two all of the hounds, except the -belated Boxer and Nellie, had also come up. The cougar having now -recovered his wind, jumped down and cantered off. He had been running -for three hours before the dogs and evidently had been overtaken again -and again, but had either refused to tree, or if he did tree had soon -come down and continued his flight, the hounds not venturing to meddle -with him, and he paying little heed to them. It was a different matter, -however, with Turk and Queen along. He went up the hill and came to bay -on the top of the cliffs, where we could see him against the sky-line. -The hounds surrounded him, but neither they nor Turk came to close -quarters. Queen, however, as soon as she arrived rushed straight in, and -the cougar knocked her a dozen feet off. Turk tried to seize him as soon -as Queen had made her rush; the cougar broke bay, and they all -disappeared over the hill-top, while we hurried after them. A quarter of -a mile beyond, on the steep hillside, they again had him up a -pinyon-tree. I approached as cautiously as possible so as not to alarm -him. He stood in such an awkward position that I could not get a fair -shot at the heart, but the bullet broke his back, and the dogs seized -him as he struck the ground. There was still any amount of fight in him, -and I ran in as fast as possible, jumping and slipping over the rocks -and the bushes as the cougar and dogs rolled and slid down the steep -mountain-side—for, of course, every minute’s delay meant the chance of a -dog being killed or crippled. It was a day of misfortunes for Jim, who -was knocked completely out of the fight by a single blow. The cougar was -too big for the dogs to master, even crippled as he was; but when I came -up close Turk ran in and got the great beast by one ear, stretching out -the cougar’s head, while he kept his own forelegs tucked way back so -that the cougar could not get hold of them. This gave me my chance and I -drove the knife home, leaping back before the creature could get round -at me. Boxer did not come up for half an hour, working out every inch of -the trail for himself, and croaking away at short intervals, while -Nellie trotted calmly beside him. Even when he saw us skinning the -cougar he would not hurry nor take a short cut, but followed the scent -to where the cougar had gone up the tree, and from the tree down to -where we were; then he meditatively bit the carcass, strolled off, and -lay down, satisfied. - -It was a very large cougar, fat and heavy, and the men at the ranch -believed it was the same one which had at intervals haunted the place -for two or three years, killing on one occasion a milch cow, on another -a steer, and on yet another a big work horse. Goff stated that he had on -two or three occasions killed cougars that were quite as long, and he -believed even an inch or two longer, but that he had never seen one as -large or as heavy. Its weight was 227 pounds, and as it lay stretched -out it looked like a small African lioness. It would be impossible to -wish a better ending to a hunt. - -The next day Goff and I cantered thirty miles into Meeker, and my -holiday was over. - - - - - CHAPTER II - A COLORADO BEAR HUNT - - -In mid-April, nineteen hundred and five, our party, consisting of Philip -B. Stewart, of Colorado Springs, and Dr. Alexander Lambert, of New York, -in addition to myself, left Newcastle, Col., for a bear hunt. As guides -and hunters we had John Goff and Jake Borah, than whom there are no -better men at their work of hunting bear in the mountains with hounds. -Each brought his own dogs; all told, there were twenty-six hounds, and -four half-blood terriers to help worry the bear when at bay. We -travelled in comfort, with a big pack-train, spare horses for each of -us, and a cook, packers, and horse-wranglers. I carried one of the new -model Springfield military rifles, a 30–40, with a soft-nosed bullet—a -very accurate and hard-hitting gun. - -[Illustration: - - STARTING FOR CAMP - - From a stereograph, copyright, 1905, by Underwood and Underwood -] - -This first day we rode about twenty miles to where camp was pitched on -the upper waters of East Divide Creek. It was a picturesque spot. At -this altitude it was still late winter and the snow lay in drifts, even -in the creek bottom, while the stream itself was not yet clear from ice. -The tents were pitched in a grove of leafless aspens and great spruces, -beside the rushing, ice-rimmed brook. The cook tent, with its stove, was -an attractive place on the cool mornings and in stormy weather. Fry, the -cook, a most competent man, had rigged up a table, and we had folding -camp-chairs—luxuries utterly unknown to my former camping trips. Each -day we breakfasted early and dined ten or twelve hours later, on -returning from the day’s hunt; and as we carried no lunch, the two meals -were enjoyed with ravenous pleasure by the entire company. The horses -were stout, tough, shaggy beasts, of wonderful staying power, and able -to climb like cats. The country was very steep and rugged; the -mountain-sides were greasy and slippery from the melting snow, while the -snow bucking through the deep drifts on their tops and on the north -sides was exhausting. Only sure-footed animals could avoid serious -tumbles, and only animals of great endurance could have lasted through -the work. Both Johnny Goff and his partner, Brick Wells, who often -accompanied us on the hunts, were frequently mounted on animals of -uncertain temper, with a tendency to buck on insufficient provocation; -but they rode them with entire indifference up and down any incline. One -of the riders, “Al,” a very good-tempered man, a tireless worker, had as -one of his horses a queer, big-headed dun beast, with a black stripe -down its back and traces of zebra-like bands on the backs of his front -legs. He was an atavistic animal, looking much as the horses must have -looked which an age or two ago lived in this very locality and were -preyed on by sabre-toothed tigers, hyenadons, and other strange and -terrible beasts of a long-vanished era. Lambert remarked to him: “Al, -you ought to call that horse of yours ‘Fossil’; he is a hundred thousand -years old.” To which Al, with immovable face, replied: “Gee! and that -man sold him to me for a seven-year-old! I’ll have the law on him!” - -The hounds were most interesting, and showed all the variations of -character and temper to be expected in such a pack; a pack in which -performance counted for everything and pedigree for nothing. One of the -best hounds was half fox terrier. Three of Johnny’s had been with us -four years before, when he and I hunted cougars together; these three -being Jim, now an old dog, who dropped behind in a hard run, but still -excellent on a cold trail; Tree’em, who, like Jim, had grown aged, but -was very sure; and Bruno, who had become one of the best of all the pack -on a hot trail, but who was apt to overrun it if it became at all -difficult and cold. The biggest dog of the pack, a very powerful animal, -was Badge, who was half foxhound and half what Johnny called Siberian -bloodhound—I suppose a Great Dane or Ulm dog. His full brother Bill came -next to him. There was a Rowdy in Jake’s pack and another Rowdy in -Johnny’s, and each got badly hurt before the hunt was through. Jake’s -Rowdy, as soon as an animal was killed, became very cross and wished to -attack any dog that came near. One of Jake’s best hounds was old Bruise, -a very sure, although not a particularly fast dog. All the members of -the pack held the usual wild-beast attitude toward one another. They -joined together for the chase and the fight, but once the quarry was -killed, their relations among themselves became those of active -hostility or selfish indifference. At feeding time each took whatever -his strength permitted, and each paid abject deference to whichever -animal was his known superior in prowess. Some of the younger dogs would -now and then run deer or coyote. But the older dogs paid heed only to -bear and bobcat; and the pack, as a body, discriminated sharply between -the hounds they could trust and those which would go off on a wrong -trail. The four terriers included a heavy, liver-colored half-breed -bulldog, a preposterous animal who looked as if his ancestry had -included a toadfish. He was a terrible fighter, but his unvarying -attitude toward mankind was one of effusive and rather foolish -affection. In a fight he could whip any of the hounds save Badge, and he -was far more willing than Badge to accept punishment. There was also a -funny little black and tan, named Skip, a most friendly little fellow, -especially fond of riding in front or behind the saddle of any one of us -who would take him up, although perfectly able to travel forty miles a -day on his own sturdy legs if he had to, and then to join in the worry -of the quarry when once it had been shot. Porcupines abounded in the -woods, and one or two of the terriers and half a dozen of the hounds -positively refused to learn any wisdom, invariably attacking each -porcupine they found; the result being that we had to spend many minutes -in removing the quills from their mouths, eyes, etc. A white -bull-terrier would come in from such a combat with his nose literally -looking like a glorified pincushion, and many of the spines we had to -take out with nippers. The terriers never ran with the hounds, but -stayed behind with the horses until they heard the hounds barking -“bayed” or “treed,” when they forthwith tore toward them. Skip adopted -me as his special master, rode with me whenever I would let him, and -slept on the foot of my bed at night, growling defiance at anything that -came near. I grew attached to the friendly, bright little fellow, and at -the end of the hunt took him home with me as a playmate for the -children. - -It was a great, wild country. In the creek bottoms there were a good -many ranches; but we only occasionally passed by these, on our way to -our hunting-grounds in the wilderness along the edge of the snow-line. -The mountains crowded close together in chain, peak, and tableland; all -the higher ones were wrapped in an unrent shroud of snow. We saw a good -many deer, and fresh sign of elk, but no elk themselves, although we -were informed that bands were to be found in the high spruce timber -where the snows were so deep that it would have been impossible to go on -horseback, while going on foot would have been inconceivably fatiguing. -The country was open. The high peaks were bare of trees. Cottonwoods, -and occasionally dwarfed birch or maple and willows, fringed the -streams; aspens grew in groves higher up. There were pinyons and cedars -on the slopes of the foothills; spruce clustered here and there in the -cooler ravines and valleys and high up the mountains. The dense oak -brush and thick-growing cedars were hard on our clothes, and sometimes -on our bodies. - -Bear and cougars had once been very plentiful throughout this region, -but during the last three or four years the cougars have greatly -diminished in numbers throughout northern Colorado, and the bears have -diminished also, although not to the same extent. The great grizzlies -which were once fairly plentiful here are now very rare, as they are in -most places in the United States. There remain plenty of the black and -brown bears, which are simply individual color phases of the same -species. - -Bears are interesting creatures and their habits are always worth -watching. When I used to hunt grizzlies my experience tended to make me -lay special emphasis on their variation in temper. There are savage and -cowardly bears, just as there are big and little ones; and sometimes -these variations are very marked among bears of the same district, and -at other times all the bears of one district will seem to have a common -code of behavior which differs utterly from that of the bears of another -district. Readers of Lewis and Clark do not need to be reminded of the -great difference they found in ferocity between the bears of the upper -Missouri and the bears of the Columbia River country; and those who have -lived in the upper Missouri country nowadays know how widely the bears -that still remain have altered in character from what they were as -recently as the middle of the last century. - -This variability has been shown in the bears which I have stumbled upon -at close quarters. On but one occasion was I ever regularly charged by a -grizzly. To this animal I had given a mortal wound, and without any -effort at retaliation he bolted into a thicket of what, in my hurry, I -thought was laurel (it being composed in reality, I suppose, of -thick-growing berry bushes). On my following him and giving him a second -wound, he charged very determinedly, taking two more bullets without -flinching. I just escaped the charge by jumping to one side, and he died -almost immediately after striking at me as he rushed by. This bear -charged with his mouth open, but made very little noise after the growl -or roar with which he greeted my second bullet. I mention the fact of -his having kept his mouth open, because one or two of my friends who -have been charged have informed me that in their cases they particularly -noticed that the bear charged with his mouth shut. Perhaps the fact that -my bear was shot through the lungs may account for the difference, or it -may simply be another example of individual variation. - -On another occasion, in a windfall, I got up within eight or ten feet of -a grizzly, which simply bolted off, paying no heed to a hurried shot -which I delivered as I poised unsteadily on the swaying top of an -overthrown dead pine. On yet another occasion, when I roused a big bear -from his sleep, he at the first moment seemed to pay little or no heed -to me, and then turned toward me in a leisurely way, the only sign of -hostility he betrayed being to ruffle up the hair on his shoulders and -the back of his neck. I hit him square between the eyes, and he dropped -like a pole-axed steer. - -[Illustration: - - AT DINNER - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -On another occasion I got up quite close to and mortally wounded a bear, -which ran off without uttering a sound until it fell dead; but another -of these grizzlies, which I shot from ambush, kept squalling and yelling -every time I hit him, making a great rumpus. On one occasion one of my -cow hands and myself were able to run down on foot a she grizzly bear -and her cub, which had obtained a long start of us, simply because of -the foolish conduct of the mother. The cub—or more properly the -yearling, for it was a cub of the second year—ran on far ahead, and -would have escaped if the old she had not continually stopped and sat up -on her hind legs to look back at us. I think she did this partly from -curiosity, but partly also from bad temper, for once or twice she -grinned and roared at us. The upshot of it was that I got within range -and put a bullet in the old she, who afterward charged my companion and -was killed; and we also got the yearling. - -One young grizzly which I killed many years ago dropped to the first -bullet, which entered its stomach. It then let myself and my companion -approach closely, looking up at us with alert curiosity, but making no -effort to escape. It was really not crippled at all, but we thought from -its actions that its back was broken, and my companion advanced to kill -it with his pistol. The pistol, however, did not inflict a mortal wound, -and the only effect was to make the young bear jump to its feet as if -unhurt, and race off at full speed through the timber; for though not -full-grown it was beyond cubhood, being probably about eighteen months -old. By desperate running I succeeded in getting another shot, and more -by luck than by anything else knocked it over, this time permanently. - -Black bear are not, under normal conditions, formidable brutes. If they -do charge and get home they may maul a man severely, and there are a -number of instances on record in which they have killed men. Ordinarily, -however, a black bear will not charge home, though he may bluster a good -deal. I once shot one very close up which made a most lamentable outcry, -and seemed to lose its head, its efforts to escape resulting in its -bouncing about among the trees with such heedless hurry that I was -easily able to kill it. Another black bear, which I also shot at close -quarters, came straight for my companions and myself, and almost ran -over the white hunter who was with me. This bear made no sound whatever -when I first hit it, and I do not think it was charging. I believe it -was simply dazed, and by accident ran the wrong way, and so almost came -into collision with us. However, when it found itself face to face with -the white hunter, and only four or five feet away, it prepared for -hostilities, and I think would have mauled him if I had not brained it -with another bullet; for I was myself standing but six feet or so to one -side of it. None of the bears shot on this Colorado trip made a sound -when hit; they all died silently, like so many wolves. - -Ordinarily, my experience has been that bears were not flurried when I -suddenly came upon them. They impressed me as if they were always -keeping in mind the place toward which they wished to retreat in the -event of danger, and for this place, which was invariably a piece of -rough ground or dense timber, they made off with all possible speed, not -seeming to lose their heads. - -[Illustration: - - THE PACK STRIKES THE FRESH BEAR TRAIL - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Frequently I have been able to watch bears for some time while myself -unobserved. With other game I have very often done this even when within -close range, not wishing to kill creatures needlessly, or without a good -object; but with bears, my experience has been that chances to secure -them come so seldom as to make it very distinctly worth while improving -any that do come, and I have not spent much time watching any bear -unless he was in a place where I could not get at him, or else was so -close at hand that I was not afraid of his getting away. On one occasion -the bear was hard at work digging up squirrel or gopher _caches_ on the -side of a pine-clad hill; while at this work he looked rather like a big -badger. On two other occasions the bear was fussing around a carcass -preparatory to burying it. On these occasions I was very close, and it -was extremely interesting to note the grotesque, half-human movements, -and giant, awkward strength of the great beast. He would twist the -carcass around with the utmost ease, sometimes taking it in his teeth -and dragging it, at other times grasping it in his forepaws and half -lifting, half shoving it. Once the bear lost his grip and rolled over -during the course of some movement, and this made him angry, and he -struck the carcass a savage whack, just as a pettish child will strike a -table against which it has knocked itself. At another time I watched a -black bear some distance off getting his breakfast under stumps and -stones. He was very active, turning the stone or log over, and then -thrusting his muzzle into the empty space to gobble up the small -creatures below before they recovered from their surprise and the sudden -inflow of light. From under one log he put a chipmunk, and danced hither -and thither with even more agility than awkwardness, slapping at the -chipmunk with his paw while it zigzagged about, until finally he scooped -it into his mouth. - -All this was in the old days when I was still-hunting, with only the -rifle. This Colorado trip was the first on which I hunted bears with -hounds. If we had run across a grizzly there would doubtless have been a -chance to show some prowess, at least in the way of hard riding. But the -black and brown bears cannot, save under exceptional circumstances, -escape from such a pack as we had with us; and the real merit of the -chase was confined to the hounds and to Jake and Johnny for their skill -in handling them. Perhaps I should add the horses, for their -extraordinary endurance and surefootedness. As for the rest of us, we -needed to do little more than to sit ten or twelve hours in the saddle -and occasionally lead the horses up or down the most precipitous and -cliff-like of the mountain-sides. But it was great fun, nevertheless, -and usually a chase lasted long enough to be interesting. - -The first day after reaching camp we rode for eleven hours over a very -difficult country, but without getting above the snow-line. Finally the -dogs got on the fresh trail of a bobcat, and away they went. A bobcat -will often give a good run, much better, on the average, than a cougar; -and this one puzzled the dogs not a little at first. It scrambled out of -one deep valley, crossing and recrossing the rock ledges where its scent -was hard to follow; then plunged into another valley. Meanwhile we had -ridden up on the high mountain spur between the two valleys, and after -scrambling and galloping to and fro as the cry veered from point to -point when the dogs changed directions, we saw them cross into the -second valley. Here again they took a good deal of time to puzzle out -the trail, and became somewhat scattered. We had dismounted and were -standing by the horses’ heads, listening to the baying and trying to -decide which way we should go, when Stewart suddenly pointed us out a -bear. It was on the other side of the valley from us, and perhaps half a -mile away, galloping down hill, with two of the hounds after it, and in -the sunlight its fur looked glossy black. In a minute or two it passed -out of sight in the thick-growing timber at the bottom of the valley; -and as we afterward found, the two hounds, getting momentarily thrown -out, and hearing the others still baying on the cat trail, joined the -latter. Jake started off to go around the head of the valley, while the -rest of us plunged down into it. We found from the track that the bear -had gone up the valley, and Jake found where he had come out on the high -divide, and then turned and retraced his steps. But the hounds were -evidently all after the cat. There was nothing for us to do but follow -them. Sometimes riding, sometimes leading the horses, we went up the -steep hillside, and as soon as we reached the crest heard the hounds -barking treed. Shorty and Skip, who always trotted after the horses -while the hounds were in full cry on a trail, recognized the change of -note immediately, and tore off in the direction of the bay, while we -followed as best we could, hoping to get there in time for Stewart and -Lambert to take photographs of the lynx in a tree. But we were too late. -Both Shorty and Skip could climb trees, and although Skip was too light -to tackle a bobcat by himself, Shorty, a heavy, formidable dog, of -unflinching courage and great physical strength, was altogether too much -for any bobcat. When we reached the place we found the bobcat in the top -of a pinyon, and Shorty steadily working his way up through the branches -and very near the quarry. Evidently the bobcat felt that the situation -needed the taking of desperate chances, and just before Shorty reached -it out it jumped, Shorty yelling with excitement as he plunged down -through the branches after it. But the cat did not jump far enough. One -of the hounds seized it by the hind leg and in another second everything -was over. - -Shorty was always the first of the pack to attack dangerous game, and in -attacking bear or cougar even Badge was much less reckless and more -wary. In consequence, Shorty was seamed over with scars; most of them -from bobcats, but one or two from cougars. He could speedily kill a -bobcat single-handed; for these small lynxes are not really formidable -fighters, although they will lacerate a dog quite severely. Shorty found -a badger a much more difficult antagonist than a bobcat. A bobcat in a -hole makes a hard fight, however. On this hunt we once got a bobcat -under a big rock, and Jake’s Rowdy in trying to reach it got so badly -mauled that he had to join the invalid class for several days. - -The bobcat we killed this first day was a male, weighing twenty-five -pounds. It was too late to try after the bear, especially as we had only -ten or a dozen dogs out, while the bear’s tracks showed it to be a big -one; and we rode back to camp. - -Next morning we rode off early, taking with us all twenty-six hounds and -the four terriers. We wished first to find whether the bear had gone out -of the country in which we had seen him, and so rode up a valley and -then scrambled laboriously up the mountain-side to the top of the -snow-covered divide. Here the snow was three feet deep in places, and -the horses plunged and floundered as we worked our way in single file -through the drifts. But it had frozen hard the previous night, so that a -bear could walk on the crust and leave very little sign. In consequence -we came near passing over the place where the animal we were after had -actually crossed out of the canyon-like ravine in which we had seen him -and gone over the divide into another set of valleys. The trail was so -faint that it puzzled us, as we could not be certain how fresh it was, -and until this point could be cleared up we tried to keep the hounds -from following it. Old Jim, however, slipped off to one side and -speedily satisfied himself that the trail was fresh. Along it he went, -giving tongue, and the other dogs were maddened by the sound, while Jim, -under such circumstances, paid no heed whatever to any effort to make -him come back. Accordingly, the other hounds were slipped after him, and -down they ran into the valley, while we slid, floundered, and scrambled -along the ridge crest parallel to them, until a couple of miles farther -on we worked our way down to some great slopes covered with dwarf -scrub-oak. At the edge of these slopes, where they fell off in abrupt -descent to the stream at the bottom of the valley, we halted. Opposite -us was a high and very rugged mountain-side covered with a growth of -pinyon—never a close-growing tree—its precipitous flanks broken by -ledges and scored by gullies and ravines. It was hard to follow the -scent across such a mountain-side, and the dogs speedily became much -scattered. We could hear them plainly, and now and then could see them, -looking like ants as they ran up and down hill and along the ledges. -Finally we heard some of them barking bayed. The volume of sound -increased steadily as the straggling dogs joined those which had first -reached the hunted animal. At about this time, to our astonishment, -Badge, usually a stanch fighter, rejoined us, followed by one or two -other hounds, who seemed to have had enough of the matter. Immediately -afterward we saw the bear, half-way up the opposite mountain-side. The -hounds were all around him, and occasionally bit at his hind quarters; -but he had evidently no intention of climbing a tree. When we first saw -him he was sitting up on a point of rock surrounded by the pack, his -black fur showing to fine advantage. Then he moved off, threatening the -dogs, and making what in Mississippi is called a walking bay. He was a -sullen, powerful beast, and his leisurely gait showed how little he -feared the pack, and how confident he was in his own burly strength. By -this time the dogs had been after him for a couple of hours, and as -there was no water on the mountain-side we feared they might be getting -exhausted, and rode toward them as rapidly as we could. It was a hard -climb up to where they were, and we had to lead the horses. Just as we -came in sight of him, across a deep gully which ran down the sheer -mountain-side, he broke bay and started off, threatening the foremost of -the pack as they dared to approach him. They were all around him, and -for a minute I could not fire; then as he passed under a pinyon I got a -clear view of his great round stern and pulled trigger. The bullet broke -both his hips, and he rolled down hill, the hounds yelling with -excitement as they closed in on him. He could still play havoc with the -pack, and there was need to kill him at once. I leaped and slid down my -side of the gully as he rolled down his; at the bottom he stopped and -raised himself on his fore quarters; and with another bullet I broke his -back between the shoulders. - -[Illustration: - - DEATH OF THE BIG BEAR - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Immediately all the dogs began to worry the carcass, while their savage -baying echoed so loudly in the narrow, steep gully that we could with -difficulty hear one another speak. It was a wild scene to look upon, as -we scrambled down to where the dead bear lay on his back between the -rocks. He did not die wholly unavenged, for he had killed one of the -terriers and six other dogs were more or less injured. The chase of the -bear is grim work for the pack. Jim, usually a very wary fighter, had a -couple of deep holes in his thigh; but the most mishandled of the -wounded dogs was Shorty. With his usual dauntless courage he had gone -straight at the bear’s head. Being such a heavy, powerful animal, I -think if he had been backed up he could have held the bear’s head down, -and prevented the beast from doing much injury. As it was, the bear bit -through the side of Shorty’s head, and bit him in the shoulder, and -again in the hip, inflicting very bad wounds. Once the fight was over -Shorty lay down on the hillside, unable to move. When we started home we -put him beside a little brook, and left a piece of bear meat by him, as -it was obvious we could not get him to camp that day. Next day one of -the boys went back with a pack-horse to take him in; but half-way out -met him struggling toward camp, and returned. Late in the afternoon -Shorty turned up while we were at dinner, and staggered toward us, -wagging his tail with enthusiastic delight at seeing his friends. We fed -him until he could not hold another mouthful; then he curled up in a dry -corner of the cook tent and slept for forty-eight hours; and two or -three days afterward was able once more to go hunting. - -The bear was a big male, weighing three hundred and thirty pounds. On -examination at close quarters, his fur, which was in fine condition, was -not as black as it had seemed when seen afar off, the roots of the hairs -being brown. There was nothing whatever in his stomach. Evidently he had -not yet begun to eat, and had been but a short while out of his hole. -Bear feed very little when they first come out of their dens, sometimes -beginning on grass, sometimes on buds. Occasionally they will feed at -carcasses and try to kill animals within a week or two after they have -left winter quarters, but this is rare, and as a usual thing for the -first few weeks after they have come out they feed much as a deer would. -Although not hog fat, as would probably have been the case in the fall, -this bear was in good condition. In the fall, however, he would -doubtless have weighed over four hundred pounds. The three old females -we got on this trip weighed one hundred and eighty, one hundred and -seventy-five, and one hundred and thirty-five pounds apiece. The -yearlings weighed from thirty-one to forty pounds. The only other black -bears I ever weighed all belonged to the sub-species _Luteolus_, and -were killed on the Little Sunflower River, in Mississippi, in the late -fall of nineteen hundred and two. A big old male, in poor condition, -weighed two hundred and eighty-five pounds, and two very fat females -weighed two hundred and twenty and two hundred and thirty-five pounds -respectively. - -The next few days we spent in hunting perseveringly, but unsuccessfully. -Each day we were from six to twelve hours in the saddle, climbing with -weary toil up the mountains and slipping and scrambling down them. On -the tops and on the north slopes there was much snow, so that we had to -pick our trails carefully, and even thus the horses often floundered -belly-deep as we worked along in single file; the men on the horses -which were best at snow bucking took turns in breaking the trail. In the -worst places we had to dismount and lead the horses, often over such bad -ground that nothing less sure-footed than the tough mountain ponies -could even have kept their legs. The weather was cold, with occasional -sharp flurries of snow, and once a regular snow-storm. We found the -tracks of one or two bears, but in each case several days old, and it -was evident either that the bears had gone back to their dens, finding -the season so late, or else that they were lying quiet in sheltered -places, and travelling as little as possible. One day, after a long run -of certainly five or six miles through very difficult country, the dogs -treed a bobcat in a big cedar. It had run so far that it was badly out -of breath. Stewart climbed the tree and took several photographs of it, -pushing the camera up to within about four feet of where the cat sat. -Lambert obtained photographs of both Stewart and the cat. Shorty was at -this time still an invalid from his encounter with the bear, but Skip -worked his way thirty feet up the tree in his effort to get at the -bobcat. Lambert shot the latter with his revolver, the bobcat dying -stuck in the branches; and he then had to climb the tree to get both the -bobcat and Skip, as the latter was at such a height that we thought he -would hurt himself if he fell. Another bobcat when treed sealed his own -fate by stepping on a dead branch and falling right into the jaws of the -pack. - -At this camp, as everywhere, the tiny four-striped chipmunks were -plentiful and tame; they are cheerful, attractive little animals. We -also saw white-footed mice and a big meadow mouse around camp; and we -found a young brushy-tailed pack-rat. The snowshoe rabbits were still -white on the mountains, but in the lower valleys they had changed to the -summer pelage. On the mountains we occasionally saw woodchucks and rock -squirrels of two kinds, a large and a small—_Spermophilus grammurus_ and -_armatus_. The noisy, cheerful pine squirrels were common where the -woods were thick. There were eagles and ravens in the mountains, and -once we saw sandhill cranes soaring far above the highest peaks. The -long-crested jays came familiarly around camp, but on this occasion we -only saw the whiskey jacks, Clark’s nutcrackers and magpies, while off -in the mountains. Among the pinyons, we several times came across -straggling flocks of the queer pinyon jays or blue crows, with their -unmistakable calls and almost blackbird-like habits. There were hawks of -several species, and blue grouse, while the smaller birds included -flickers, robins, and the beautiful mountain bluebirds. Juncos and -mountain chickadees were plentiful, and the ruby-crowned kinglets were -singing with astonishing power for such tiny birds. We came on two nests -of the red-tailed hawk; the birds were brooding, and seemed tame and -unwary. - -[Illustration: - - STEWART AND THE BOBCAT - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -After a week of this we came to the conclusion that the snow was too -deep and the weather too cold for us to expect to get any more bear in -the immediate neighborhood, and accordingly shifted camp to where Clear -Creek joins West Divide Creek. - -The first day’s hunt from the new camp was successful. We were absent -about eleven hours and rode some forty miles. The day included four -hours’ steady snow bucking, for the bear, as soon as they got the -chance, went through the thick timber where the snow lay deepest. Some -two hours after leaving camp we found the old tracks of a she and a -yearling, but it took us a much longer time before we finally struck the -fresh trail made late the previous night or early in the morning. It was -Jake who first found this fresh track, while Johnny with the pack was a -couple of miles away, slowly but surely puzzling out the cold trail and -keeping the dogs up to their work. As soon as Johnny came up we put all -the hounds on the tracks, and away they went, through and over the snow, -yelling their eager delight. Meanwhile we had fixed our saddles and were -ready for what lay ahead. It was wholly impossible to ride at the tail -of the pack, but we did our best to keep within sound of the baying. -Finally, after much hard work and much point riding through snow, slush, -and deep mud, on the level, and along, up, and down sheer slopes, we -heard the dogs barking treed in the middle of a great grove of aspens -high up the mountain-side. The snow was too deep for the horses, and -leaving them, we trudged heavily up on foot. The yearling was in the top -of a tall aspen. Lambert shot it with his rifle and we then put the dogs -on the trail of the old she. Some of the young ones did not know what to -make of this, evidently feeling that the tracks must be those of the -bear that they had already killed; but the veterans were in full cry at -once. We scrambled after them up the steep mountain, and then downward -along ridges and spurs, getting all the clear ground we could. Finally -we had to take to the snow, and floundered and slid through the drifts -until we were in the valley. Most of the time the dogs were within -hearing, giving tongue as they followed the trail. Finally a total -change in the note showed that they were barking treed; and as rapidly -as possible we made our way toward the sound. Again we found ourselves -unable to bring the horses up to where the bear had treed, and scrambled -thither on foot through the deep snow. - -[Illustration: - - THE PACK BAYING THE BEAR - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -The bear was some thirty or forty feet up a tall spruce; it was a big -she, with a glossy black-brown coat. I was afraid that at our approach -she might come down; but she had been running hard for some four hours, -had been pressed close, and evidently had not the slightest idea of -putting herself of her own free will within the reach of the pack, which -was now frantically baying at the foot of the tree. I shot her through -the heart. As the bullet struck she climbed up through the branches with -great agility for six or eight feet; then her muscles relaxed, and down -she came with a thud, nearly burying herself in the snow. Little Skip -was one of the first dogs to seize her as she came down; and in another -moment he literally disappeared under the hounds as they piled on the -bear. As soon as possible we got off the skin and pushed campward at a -good gait, for we were a long way off. Just at nightfall we came out on -a bluff from which we could overlook the rushing, swirling brown -torrent, on the farther bank of which the tents were pitched. - -The stomach of this bear contained nothing but buds. Like the other shes -killed on this trip, she was accompanied by her yearling young, but had -no newly born cub; sometimes bear breed only every other year, but I -have found the mother accompanied not only by her cub but by her young -of the year before. The yearling also had nothing but buds in its -stomach. When its skin was taken off, Stewart looked at it, shook his -head, and turning to Lambert said solemnly, “Alex., that skin isn’t big -enough to use for anything but a doily.” From that time until the end of -the hunt the yearlings were only known as “doily bears.” - -Next morning we again went out, and this time for twelve hours steadily, -in the saddle, and now and then on foot. Most of the time we were in -snow, and it was extraordinary that the horses could get through it at -all, especially in working up the steep mountain-sides. But until it got -so deep that they actually floundered—that is, so long as they could get -their legs down to the bottom—I found that they could travel much faster -than I could. On this day some twenty good-natured, hard-riding young -fellows from the ranches within a radius of a dozen miles had joined our -party to “see the President kill a bear.” They were a cheerful and -eagerly friendly crowd, as hardy as so many young moose, and utterly -fearless horsemen; one of them rode his wild, nervous horse bareback, -because it had bucked so when he tried to put the saddle on it that -morning that he feared he would get left behind, and so abandoned the -saddle outright. Whenever they had a chance they all rode at headlong -speed, paying no heed to the slope of the mountain-side or the character -of the ground. In the deep snow they did me a real service, for of -course they had to ride their horses single file through the drifts, and -by the time my turn came we had a good trail. - -[Illustration: - - A DOILY BEAR - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -After a good deal of beating to and fro, we found where an old she-bear -with two yearlings had crossed a hill during the night and put the -hounds on their tracks. Johnny and Jake, with one or two of the cowboys, -followed the hounds over the exceedingly difficult hillside where the -trail led; or rather, they tried to follow them, for the hounds speedily -got clear away, as there were many places where they could run on the -crust of the snow, in which the horses wallowed almost helpless. The -rest of us went down to the valley, where the snow was light and the -going easier. The bear had travelled hither and thither through the -woods on the sidehill, and the dogs became scattered. Moreover, they -jumped several deer, and four or five of the young dogs took after one -of the latter. Finally, however, the rest of the pack put up the three -bears. We had an interesting glimpse of the chase as the bears quartered -up across an open spot of the hillside. The hounds were but a short -distance behind them, strung out in a long string, the more powerful, -those which could do best in the snow bucking, taking the lead. We -pushed up the mountain-side after them, horse after horse getting down -in the snow, and speedily heard the redoubled clamor which told us that -something had been treed. It was half an hour before we could make our -way to the tree, a spruce, in which the two yearlings had taken refuge, -while around the bottom the entire pack was gathered, crazy with -excitement. We could not take the yearlings alive, both because we -lacked the means of carrying them, and because we were anxious to get -after the old bear. We could not leave them where they were, because it -would have been well-nigh impossible to get the dogs away, and because, -even if we had succeeded in getting them away, they would not have run -any other trail as long as they knew the yearlings were in the tree. It -was therefore out of the question to leave them unharmed, as we should -have been glad to do, and Lambert killed them both with his revolver; -the one that was first hit immediately biting its brother. The ranchmen -took them home to eat. - -The hounds were immediately put on the trail of the old one and -disappeared over the snow. In a few minutes we followed. It was heavy -work getting up the mountain-side through the drifts, but once on top we -made our way down a nearly bare spur, and then turned to the right, -scrambled a couple of miles along a slippery sidehill, and halted. Below -us lay a great valley, on the farther side of which a spruce forest -stretched up toward the treeless peaks. Snow covered even the bottom of -the valley, and lay deep and solid in the spruce forest on the -mountain-side. The hounds were in full cry, evidently on a hot trail, -and we caught glimpses of them far on the opposite side of the valley, -crossing little open glades in the spruce timber. If the crust was hard -they scattered out. Where it was at all soft they ran in single file. We -worked our way down toward them, and on reaching the bottom of the -valley, went up it as fast as the snow would allow. Finally we heard the -pack again barking treed and started toward them. They had treed the -bear far up the mountain-side in the thick spruce timber, and a short -experiment showed us that the horses could not possibly get through the -snow. Accordingly, off we jumped and went toward the sound on foot, all -the young ranchmen and cowboys rushing ahead, and thereby again making -me an easy trail. On the way to the tree the rider of the bareback horse -pounced on a snowshoe rabbit which was crouched under a bush and caught -it with his hands. It was half an hour before we reached the tree, a big -spruce, up which the bear had gone to a height of some forty feet. I -broke her neck with a single bullet. She was smaller than the one I had -shot the day before, but full-grown. In her stomach, as in those of the -two yearlings, there were buds of rose-bushes and quaking aspens. One -yearling had also swallowed a mouse. It was a long ride to camp, and -darkness had fallen by the time we caught the gleam from the lighted -tents, across the dark stream. - -With neither of these last two bear had there been any call for prowess; -my part was merely to kill the bear dead at the first shot, for the sake -of the pack. But the days were very enjoyable, nevertheless. It was good -fun to be twelve hours in the saddle in such wild and beautiful country, -to look at and listen to the hounds as they worked, and finally to see -the bear treed and looking down at the maddened pack baying beneath. - -For the next two or three days I was kept in camp by a touch of Cuban -fever. On one of these days Lambert enjoyed the longest hunt we had on -the trip, after an old she-bear and three yearlings. The yearlings treed -one by one, each of course necessitating a stoppage, and it was seven in -the evening before the old bear at last went up a cottonwood and was -shot; she was only wounded, however, and in the fight she crippled -Johnny’s Rowdy before she was killed. When the hunters reached camp it -was thirteen hours since they had left it. The old bear was a very light -brown; the first yearling was reddish-brown, the second light -yellowish-brown, the third dark black-brown, though all were evidently -of the same litter. - -Following this came a spell of bad weather, snow-storm and blizzard -steadily succeeding one another. This lasted until my holiday was over. -Some days we had to stay in camp. On other days we hunted; but there was -three feet of new snow on the summits and foothills, making it difficult -to get about. We saw no more bear, and, indeed, no more bear-tracks that -were less than two or three weeks old. - -We killed a couple of bobcats. The chase of one was marked by several -incidents. We had been riding through a blizzard on the top of a -plateau, and were glad to plunge down into a steep sheer-sided valley. -By the time we reached the bottom there was a lull in the storm and we -worked our way with considerable difficulty through the snow, down -timber, and lava rock, toward Divide Creek. After a while the valley -widened a little, spruce and aspens fringing the stream at the bottom -while the sides were bare. Here we struck a fresh bobcat trail leading -off up one of the mountain-sides. The hounds followed it nearly to the -top, then turned and came down again, worked through the timber in the -bottom, and struck out on the hillside opposite. Suddenly we saw the -bobcat running ahead of them and doubling and circling. A few minutes -afterward the hounds followed the trail to the creek bottom and then -began to bark treed. But on reaching the point we found there was no cat -in the tree, although the dogs seemed certain that there was; and Johnny -and Jake speedily had them again running on the trail. After making its -way for some distance through the bottom, the cat had again taken to the -sidehill, and the hounds went after it hard. Again they went nearly to -the top, again they streamed down to the bottom and crossed the creek. -Soon afterward we saw the cat ahead of them. For the moment it threw -them off the track by making a circle and galloping around close to the -rearmost hounds. It then made for the creek bottom, where it climbed to -the top of a tall aspen. The hounds soon picked up the trail again, and -followed it full cry; but unfortunately just before they reached where -it had treed they ran on to a porcupine. When we reached the foot of the -aspen, in the top of which the bobcat crouched, with most of the pack -baying beneath, we found the porcupine dead and half a dozen dogs with -their muzzles and throats filled full of quills. Before doing anything -with the cat it was necessary to take these quills out. One of the -terriers, which always found porcupines an irresistible attraction, was -a really extraordinary sight, so thickly were the quills studded over -his face and chest. But a big hound was in even worse condition; the -quills were stuck in abundance into his nose, lips, cheeks, and tongue, -and in the roof of his mouth they were almost as thick as bristles in a -brush. Only by use of pincers was it possible to rid these two dogs of -the quills, and it was a long and bloody job. The others had suffered -less. - -[Illustration: - - THE BIG BEAR - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -The dogs seemed to have no sympathy with one another, and apparently all -that the rest of the pack felt was that they were kept a long time -waiting for the cat. They never stopped baying for a minute, and Shorty, -as was his habit, deliberately bit great patches of bark from the -aspens, to show his impatience; for the tree in which the cat stood was -not one which he could climb. After attending to the porcupine dogs one -of the men climbed the tree and with a stick pushed out the cat. It -dropped down through the branches forty or fifty feet, but was so quick -in starting and dodging that it actually rushed through the pack, -crossed the stream, and, doubling and twisting, was off up the creek -through the timber. It ran cunning, and in a minute or two lay down -under a bush and watched the hounds as they went by, overrunning its -trail. Then it took off up the hillside; but the hounds speedily picked -up its track, and running in single file, were almost on it. Then the -cat turned down hill, but too late, for it was overtaken within fifty -yards. This ended our hunting. - -One Sunday we rode down some six miles from camp to a little blue -school-house and attended service. The preacher was in the habit of -riding over every alternate Sunday from Rifle, a little town twenty or -twenty-five miles away; and the ranchmen with their wives and children, -some on horseback, some in wagons, had gathered from thirty miles round -to attend the service. The crowd was so large that the exercises had to -take place in the open air, and it was pleasant to look at the strong -frames and rugged, weather-beaten faces of the men; while as for the -women, one respected them even more than the men. - -In spite of the snow-storms spring was coming; some of the trees were -beginning to bud and show green, more and more flowers were in bloom, -and bird life was steadily increasing. In the bushes by the streams the -handsome white-crowned sparrows and green-tailed towhees were in full -song, making attractive music; although the song of neither can rightly -be compared in point of plaintive beauty with that of the white-throated -sparrow, which, except some of the thrushes, and perhaps the winter -wren, is the sweetest singer of the Northeastern forests. The spurred -towhees were very plentiful; and one morning a willow-thrush sang among -the willows like a veery. Both the crested jays and the Woodhouse jays -came around camp. Lower down the Western meadow larks were singing -beautifully, and vesper finches were abundant. Say’s flycatcher, a very -attractive bird, with pretty, soft-colored plumage, continually uttering -a plaintive single note, and sometimes a warbling twitter, flitted about -in the neighborhood of the little log ranch houses. Gangs of blackbirds -visited the corrals. I saw but one song sparrow, and curiously enough, -though I think it was merely an individual peculiarity, this particular -bird had a song entirely different from any I have heard from the -familiar Eastern bird—always a favorite of mine. - -While up in the mountains hunting, we twice came upon owls, which were -rearing their families in the deserted nests of the red-tailed hawk. One -was a long-eared owl, and the other a great horned owl, of the pale -Western variety. Both were astonishingly tame, and we found it difficult -to make them leave their nests, which were in the tops of cottonwood -trees. - -On the last day we rode down to where Glenwood Springs lies, hemmed in -by lofty mountain chains, which are riven in sunder by sheer-sided, -cliff-walled canyons. As we left ever farther behind us the wintry -desolation of our high hunting-grounds we rode into full spring. The -green of the valley was a delight to the eye; bird songs sounded on -every side, from the fields and from the trees and bushes beside the -brooks and irrigation ditches; the air was sweet with the spring-time -breath of many budding things. The sarvice bushes were white with bloom, -like shadblow on the Hudson; the blossoms of the Oregon grape made -yellow mats on the ground. We saw the chunky Say’s ground squirrel, -looking like a big chipmunk, with on each side a conspicuous white -stripe edged with black. In one place we saw quite a large squirrel, -grayish, with red on the lower back. I suppose it was only a pine -squirrel, but it looked like one of the gray squirrels of southern -Colorado. Mountain mockers and the handsome, bold Arkansaw king birds -were numerous. The blacktail sage sparrow was conspicuous in the -sage-brush, and high among the cliffs the white-throated swifts were -soaring. There were numerous warblers, among which I could only make out -the black-throated gray, Audubon’s, and McGillivray’s. In Glenwood -Springs itself the purple finches, house finches, and Bullock’s orioles -were in full song. Flocks of siskins passed with dipping flight. In one -rapid little stream we saw a water ousel. Humming-birds—I suppose the -broad-tailed—were common, and as they flew they made, intermittently and -almost rhythmically, a curious metallic sound; seemingly it was done -with their wings. - -But the thing that interested me most in the way of bird life was -something I saw in Denver. To my delight I found that the huge hotel at -which we took dinner was monopolized by the pretty, musical house -finches, to the exclusion of the ordinary city sparrows. The latter are -all too plentiful in Denver, as in every other city, and, as always, are -noisy, quarrelsome—in short, thoroughly unattractive and disreputable. -The house finch, on the contrary, is attractive in looks, in song, and -in ways. It was delightful to hear the males singing, often on the wing. -They went right up to the top stories of the high hotel, and nested -under the eaves and in the cornices. The cities of the Southwestern -States are to be congratulated on having this spirited, attractive -little songster as a familiar dweller around their houses and in their -gardens. - - - - - CHAPTER III - WOLF-COURSING - - -On April eighth, nineteen hundred and five, we left the town of -Frederick, Oklahoma, for a few days’ coyote coursing in the Comanche -Reserve. Lieut.-Gen. S. B. M. Young, U. S. A., retired, Lieutenant -Fortescue, U. S. A., formerly of my regiment, and Dr. Alexander Lambert, -of New York, were with me. We were the guests of Colonel Cecil Lyon, of -Texas, of Sloan Simpson, also of Texas, and formerly of my regiment, and -of two old-style Texas cattlemen, Messrs. Burnett and Wagner, who had -leased great stretches of wire-fenced pasture from the Comanches and -Kiowas; and I cannot sufficiently express my appreciation of the -kindness of these my hosts. Burnett’s brand, the Four Sixes, has been -owned by him for forty years. Both of them had come to this country -thirty years before, in the days of the buffalo, when all game was very -plentiful and the Indians were still on the warpath. Several other -ranchmen were along, including John Abernethy, of Tesca, Oklahoma, a -professional wolf hunter. There were also a number of cowhands of both -Burnett and Wagner; among them were two former riders for the Four -Sixes, Fi Taylor and Uncle Ed Gillis, who seemed to make it their -special mission to see that everything went right with me. Furthermore -there was Captain McDonald of the Texas Rangers, a game and true man, -whose name was one of terror to outlaws and violent criminals of all -kinds; and finally there was Quanah Parker, the Comanche chief, in his -youth a bitter foe of the whites, now painfully teaching his people to -travel the white man’s stony road. - -[Illustration: - - STARTING TOWARDS THE WOLF GROUNDS - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -We drove out some twenty miles to where camp was pitched in a bend of -Deep Red Creek, which empties into the Red River of the South. -Cottonwood, elm, and pecans formed a belt of timber along the creek; we -had good water, the tents were pitched on short, thick grass, and -everything was in perfect order. The fare was delicious. Altogether it -was an ideal camp, and the days we passed there were also ideal. -Cardinals and mocking-birds—the most individual and delightful of all -birds in voice and manner—sang in the woods; and the beautiful, -many-tinted fork-tailed fly-catchers were to be seen now and then, -perched in trees or soaring in curious zigzags, chattering loudly. - -In chasing the coyote only greyhounds are used, and half a dozen -different sets of these had been brought to camp. Those of Wagner, the -“Big D” dogs, as his cow-punchers called them, were handled by Bony -Moore, who, with Tom Burnett, the son of our host Burke Burnett, took -the lead in feats of daring horsemanship, even in that field of daring -horsemen. Bevins had brought both greyhounds and rough-haired staghounds -from his Texas ranch. So had Cecil Lyon, and though his dogs had chiefly -been used in coursing the black-tailed Texas jack-rabbit, they took -naturally to the coyote chases. Finally there were Abernethy’s dogs, -which, together with their master, performed the feats I shall hereafter -relate. Abernethy has a homestead of his own not far from Frederick, and -later I was introduced to his father, an old Confederate soldier, and to -his sweet and pretty wife, and their five little children. He had run -away with his wife when they were nineteen and sixteen respectively; but -the match had turned out a happy one. Both were particularly fond of -music, including the piano, horn, and violin, and they played duets -together. General Young, whom the Comanches called “War Bonnet,” went in -a buggy with Burke Burnett, and as Burnett invariably followed the -hounds at full speed in his buggy, and usually succeeded in seeing most -of the chase, I felt that the buggy men really encountered greater -hazards than anyone else. It was a thoroughly congenial company all -through. The weather was good; we were in the saddle from morning until -night; and our camp was in all respects all that a camp should be; so -how could we help enjoying ourselves? - -The coursing was done on the flats and great rolling prairies which -stretched north from our camp toward the Wichita Mountains and south -toward the Red River. There was a certain element of risk in the -gallops, because the whole country was one huge prairie-dog town, the -prairie-dogs being so numerous that the new towns and the abandoned -towns were continuous with one another in every direction. Practically -every run we had was through these prairie-dog towns, varied -occasionally by creeks and washouts. But as we always ran scattered out, -the wonderfully quick cow-ponies, brought up in this country and -spending all their time among the prairie-dog towns, were able, even -while running at headlong speed, to avoid the holes with a cleverness -that was simply marvellous. During our hunt but one horse stepped in a -hole; he turned a complete somerset, though neither he nor his rider was -hurt. Stunted mesquite bushes grew here and there in the grass, and -there was cactus. As always in prairie-dog towns, there were burrowing -owls and rattlesnakes. We had to be on our guard that the dogs did not -attack the latter. Once we thought a greyhound was certainly bitten. It -was a very fast blue bitch, which seized the rattler and literally shook -it to pieces. The rattler struck twice at the bitch, but so quick were -the bitch’s movements that she was not hit either time, and in a second -the snake was not merely dead, but in pieces. We usually killed the -rattlers with either our quirts or ropes. One which I thus killed was -over five feet long. - -By rights there ought to have been carts in which the greyhounds could -be drawn until the coyotes were sighted, but there were none, and the -greyhounds simply trotted along beside the horses. All of them were fine -animals, and almost all of them of recorded pedigree. Coyotes have sharp -teeth and bite hard, while greyhounds have thin skins, and many of them -were cut in the worries. This was due to the fact that only two or three -of them seized by the throat, the others taking hold behind, which of -course exposed them to retaliation. Few of them would have been of much -use in stopping a big wolf. Abernethy’s hounds, however, though they -could not kill a big wolf, would stop it, permitting their owner to -seize it exactly as he seized coyotes, as hereafter described. He had -killed but a few of the big gray wolves; one weighed ninety-seven -pounds. He said that there were gradations from this down to the -coyotes. A few days before our arrival, after a very long chase, he had -captured a black wolf, weighing between fifty and sixty pounds. - -These Southern coyotes or prairie-wolves are only about one-third the -size of the big gray timber wolves of the Northern Rockies. They are too -small to meddle with full-grown horses and cattle, but pick up young -calves and kill sheep, as well as any small domesticated animal that -they can get at. The big wolves flee from the neighborhood of anything -like close settlements, but coyotes hang around the neighborhood of man -much more persistently. They show a fox-like cunning in catching -rabbits, prairie-dogs, gophers, and the like. After nightfall they are -noisy, and their melancholy wailing and yelling are familiar sounds to -all who pass over the plains. The young are brought forth in holes in -cut banks or similar localities. Within my own experience I have known -of the finding of but two families. In one there was but a single family -of five cubs and one old animal, undoubtedly the mother; in the other -case there were ten or eleven cubs and two old females which had -apparently shared the burrow or cave, though living in separate pockets. -In neither case was any full-grown male coyote found in the -neighborhood; as regards these particular litters, the father seemingly -had nothing to do with taking care of or supporting the family. I am not -able to say whether this was accidental or whether it is a rule, that -only the mother lives with and takes care of the litter; I have heard -contrary statements about the matter from hunters who should know. -Unfortunately I have learned from long experience that it is only -exceptional hunters who can be trusted to give accurate descriptions of -the habits of any beast, save such as are connected with its chase. - -[Illustration: - - GREYHOUNDS RESTING AFTER A RUN - - From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson -] - -Coyotes are sharp, wary, knowing creatures, and on most occasions take -care to keep out of harm’s way. But individuals among them have queer -freaks. On one occasion while Sloan Simpson was on the round-up he waked -at night to find something on the foot of his bed, its dark form -indistinctly visible against the white tarpaulin. He aroused a friend to -ask if it could be a dog. While they were cautiously endeavoring to find -out what it was, it jumped up and ran off; they then saw that it was a -coyote. In a short time it returned again, coming out of the darkness -toward one of the cowboys who was awake, and the latter shot it, fearing -it might have hydrophobia. But I doubt this, as in such case it would -not have curled up and gone to sleep on Simpson’s bedding. Coyotes are -subject to hydrophobia, and when under the spell of the dreadful disease -will fearlessly attack men. In one case of which I know, a mad coyote -coming into camp sprang on a sleeping man who was rolled in his bedding -and bit and worried the bedding in the effort to get at him. Two other -men hastened to his rescue, and the coyote first attacked them and then -suddenly sprang aside and again worried the bedding, by which time one -of them was able to get in a shot and killed it. All coyotes, like big -wolves, die silently and fight to the last. I had never weighed any -coyotes until on this trip. I weighed the twelve which I myself saw -caught, and they ran as follows: male, thirty pounds; female, -twenty-eight pounds; female, thirty-six pounds; male, thirty-two pounds; -male, thirty-four pounds; female, thirty pounds; female, twenty-seven -pounds; male, thirty-two pounds; male, twenty-nine pounds; young male, -twenty-two pounds; male, twenty-nine pounds; female, twenty-seven -pounds. Disregarding the young male, this makes an average of just over -thirty pounds.[2] Except the heaviest female, they were all gaunt and in -splendid running trim; but then I do not remember ever seeing a really -fat coyote. - -Footnote 2: - - I sent the skins and skulls to Dr. Hart Merriam, the head of the - Biological Survey. He wrote me about them: “All but one are the plains - coyote, _Canis nebracensis_. They are not perfectly typical, but are - near enough for all practical purposes. The exception is a yearling - pup of a much larger species. Whether this is _frustor_ I dare not say - in the present state of knowledge of the group.” - -The morning of the first day of our hunt dawned bright and beautiful, -the air just cool enough to be pleasant. Immediately after breakfast we -jogged off on horseback, Tom Burnett and Bony Moore in front, with six -or eight greyhounds slouching alongside, while Burke Burnett and “War -Bonnet” drove behind us in the buggy. I was mounted on one of Tom -Burnett’s favorites, a beautiful Kiowa pony. The chuck wagon, together -with the relay of greyhounds to be used in the afternoon, was to join us -about midday at an appointed place where there was a pool of water. - -We shuffled along, strung out in an irregular line, across a long flat, -in places covered with bright-green wild onions; and then up a gentle -slope where the stunted mesquite grew, while the prairie-dogs barked -spasmodically as we passed their burrows. The low crest, if such it -could be called, of the slope was reached only some twenty minutes after -we left camp, and hardly had we started down the other side than two -coyotes were spied three or four hundred yards in front. Immediately -horses and dogs were after them at a headlong, breakneck run, the -coyotes edging to the left where the creek bottom, with its deep banks -and narrow fringes of timber, was about a mile distant. The little -wolves knew their danger and ran their very fastest, while the long dogs -stretched out after them, gaining steadily. It was evident the chase -would be a short one, and there was no need to husband the horses, so -every man let his pony go for all there was in him. At such a speed, and -especially going down hill, there was not the slightest use in trying to -steer clear of the prairie-dog holes; it was best to let the veteran -cow-ponies see to that for themselves. They were as eager as their -riders, and on we dashed at full speed, curving to the left toward the -foot of the slope; we jumped into and out of a couple of broad, shallow -washouts, as we tore after the hounds, now nearing their quarry. The -rearmost coyote was overtaken just at the edge of the creek; the -foremost, which was a few yards in advance, made good its escape, as all -the dogs promptly tackled the rearmost, tumbling it over into a rather -deep pool. The scuffling and splashing told us what was going on, and we -reined our horses short up at the brink of the cut bank. The water had -hampered the dogs in killing their quarry, only three or four of them -being in the pool with him; and of those he had seized one by the nose -and was hanging on hard. In a moment one of the cowboys got hold of him, -dropped a noose over his head, and dragged him out on the bank, just as -the buggy came rattling up at full gallop. Burnett and the general, -taking advantage of the curve in our course, had driven across the chord -of the arc, and keeping their horses at a run, had seen every detail of -the chase and were in at the death. - -In a few minutes the coyote was skinned, the dogs rested, and we were -jogging on once more. Hour after hour passed by. We had a couple more -runs, but in each case the coyote had altogether too long a start and -got away; the dogs no longer being as fresh as they had been. As a rule, -although there are exceptions, if the greyhounds cannot catch the coyote -within two or three miles the chances favor the escape of the little -wolf. We found that if the wolf had more than half a mile start he got -away. As greyhounds hunt by sight, cut banks enable the coyote easily to -throw off his pursuers unless they are fairly close up. The greyhounds -see the wolf when he is far off, for they have good eyes; but in the -chase, if the going is irregular, they tend to lose him, and they do not -depend much on one another in recovering sight of him; on the contrary, -the dog is apt to quit when he no longer has the quarry in view. - -[Illustration: - - AT THE TAIL OF THE CHUCK WAGON - - From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson -] - -At noon we joined the chuck wagon where it stood drawn up on a slope of -the treeless, bushless prairie; and the active round-up cook soon had -the meal ready. It was the Four Sixes wagon, the brand burned into the -wood of the chuck box. Where does a man take more frank enjoyment in his -dinner than at the tail end of a chuck wagon? - -Soon after eating we started again, having changed horses and dogs. I -was mounted on a Big D cow-pony, while Lambert had a dun-colored horse, -hard to hold, but very tough and swift. An hour or so after leaving camp -we had a four-mile run after a coyote, which finally got away, for it -had so long a start that the dogs were done out by the time they came -within fair distance. They stopped at a little prairie pool, some of -them lying or standing in it, panting violently; and thus we found them -as we came stringing up at a gallop. After they had been well rested we -started toward camp; but we were down in the creek bottom before we saw -another coyote. This one again was a long distance ahead, and I did not -suppose there was much chance of our catching him; but away all the dogs -and all the riders went at the usual run, and catch him we did, because, -as it turned out, the “morning” dogs, which were with the wagon, had -spied him first and run him hard, until he was in sight of the -“afternoon” dogs, which were with us. I got tangled in a washout, -scrambled out, and was galloping along, watching the country in front, -when Lambert passed me as hard as he could go; I saw him disappear into -another washout, and then come out on the other side, while the dogs -were driving the coyote at an angle down toward the creek. Pulling short -to the right, I got through the creek, hoping the coyote would cross, -and the result was that I galloped up to the worry almost as soon as the -foremost riders from the other side—a piece of good fortune for which I -had only luck to thank. The hounds caught the coyote as he was about -crossing the creek. From this point it was but a short distance into -camp. - -Again next morning we were off before the sun had risen high enough to -take away the cool freshness from the air. This day we travelled several -miles before we saw our first coyote. It was on a huge, gently sloping -stretch of prairie, which ran down to the creek on our right. We were -travelling across it strung out in line when the coyote sprang up a good -distance ahead of the dogs. They ran straight away from us at first. -Then I saw the coyote swinging to the right toward the creek and I -half-wheeled, riding diagonally to the line of the chase. This gave me -an excellent view of dogs and wolf, and also enabled me to keep nearly -abreast of them. On this particular morning the dogs were Bevin’s -greyhounds and staghounds. From where the dogs started they ran about -three miles, catching their quarry in the flat where the creek circled -around in a bend, and when it was not fifty yards from the timber. By -this time the puncher, Bony Moore, had passed me, most of the other -riders having been so far to the left when the run began that they were -unable to catch up. The little wolf ran well, and the greyhounds had -about reached their limit when they caught up with it. But they lasted -just long enough to do the work. A fawn-colored greyhound and a black -staghound were the first dogs up. The staghound tried to seize the -coyote, which dodged a little to one side; the fawn-colored greyhound -struck and threw it; and in another moment the other dogs were up and -the worry began. I was able to see the run so well, because Tom Burnett -had mounted me on his fine roan cutting horse. We sat around in a -semicircle on the grass until the dogs had been breathed, and then -started off again. After some time we struck another coyote, but rather -far off, and this time the dogs were not fresh. After running two or -three miles he pulled away and we lost him, the dogs refreshing -themselves by standing and lying in a shallow prairie pool. - -In the afternoon we again rode off, and this time Abernethy, on his -white horse, took the lead, his greyhounds trotting beside him. There -was a good deal of rivalry among the various owners of the hounds as to -which could do best, and a slight inclination among the cowboys to be -jealous of Abernethy. No better riders could be imagined than these same -cowboys, and their greyhounds were stanch and fast; but Abernethy, on -his tough white horse, not only rode with great judgment, but showed a -perfect knowledge of the coyote, and by his own exertions greatly -assisted his hounds. He had found out in his long experience that while -the greyhounds could outpace a coyote in a two or three mile run, they -would then fall behind; but that after going eight or ten miles, a -coyote in turn became exhausted, and if he had been able to keep his -hounds going until that time, they could, with his assistance, then stop -the quarry. - -[Illustration: - - THE BIG D. COW-PONY - - From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson -] - -We had been shogging along for an hour or more when we put up a coyote -and started after it. I was riding the Big D pony I had ridden the -afternoon before. It was a good and stout horse, but one which my weight -was certain to distress if I tried to go too fast for too long a time. -Moreover, the coyote had a long start, and I made up my mind that he -would either get away or give us a hard run. Accordingly, as the cowboys -started off at their usual headlong pace, I rode behind at a gallop, -husbanding my horse. For a mile or so the going was very rough, up over -and down stony hills and among washouts. Then we went over gently -rolling country for another mile or two, and then came to a long broken -incline which swept up to a divide some four miles ahead of us. Lambert -had been riding alongside of Abernethy, at the front, but his horse -began to play out, and needed to be nursed along, so that he dropped -back level with me. By the time I had reached the foot of this incline -the punchers, riding at full speed, had shot their bolts, and one by one -I passed them, as well as most of the greyhounds. But Abernethy was far -ahead, his white horse loping along without showing any signs of -distress. Up the long slope I did not dare press my animal, and -Abernethy must have been a mile ahead of me when he struck the divide, -while where the others were I had no idea, except that they were behind -me. When I reached the divide I was afraid I might have missed -Abernethy, but to my delight he was still in sight, far ahead. As we -began to go down hill I let the horse fairly race; for by Abernethy’s -motions I could tell that he was close to the wolf and that it was no -longer running in a straight line, so that there was a chance of my -overtaking them. In a couple of miles I was close enough to see what was -going on. But one greyhound was left with Abernethy. The coyote was -obviously tired, and Abernethy, with the aid of his perfectly trained -horse, was helping the greyhound catch it. Twice he headed it, and this -enabled me to gain rapidly. They had reached a small unwooded creek by -the time I was within fifty yards; the little wolf tried to break back -to the left; Abernethy headed it and rode almost over it, and it gave a -wicked snap at his foot, cutting the boot. Then he wheeled and came -toward it; again it galloped back, and just as it crossed the creek the -greyhound made a rush, pinned it by the hind leg and threw it. There was -a scuffle, then a yell from the greyhound as the wolf bit it. At the -bite the hound let go and jumped back a few feet, and at the same moment -Abernethy, who had ridden his horse right on them as they struggled, -leaped off and sprang on top of the wolf. He held the reins of the horse -with one hand and thrust the other, with a rapidity and precision even -greater than the rapidity of the wolf’s snap, into the wolf’s mouth, -jamming his hand down crosswise between the jaws, seizing the lower jaw -and bending it down so that the wolf could not bite him. He had a stout -glove on his hand, but this would have been of no avail whatever had he -not seized the animal just as he did; that is, behind the canines, while -his hand pressed the lips against the teeth; with his knees he kept the -wolf from using its forepaws to break the hold, until it gave up -struggling. When he thus leaped on and captured this coyote it was -entirely free, the dog having let go of it; and he was obliged to keep -hold of the reins of his horse with one hand. I was not twenty yards -distant at the time, and as I leaped off the horse he was sitting -placidly on the live wolf, his hand between its jaws, the greyhound -standing beside him, and his horse standing by as placid as he was. In a -couple of minutes Fortescue and Lambert came up. It was as remarkable a -feat of the kind as I have ever seen. - -Through some oversight we had no straps with us, and Abernethy had lost -the wire which he usually carried in order to tie up the wolves’ -muzzles—for he habitually captured his wolves in this fashion. However, -Abernethy regarded the lack of straps as nothing more than a slight -bother. Asking one of us to hold his horse, he threw the wolf across in -front of the saddle, still keeping his grip on the lower jaw, then -mounted and rode off with us on the back track. The wolf was not tied in -any way. It was unhurt, and the only hold he had was on its lower jaw. I -was surprised that it did not strive to fight with its legs, but after -becoming satisfied that it could not bite, it seemed to resign itself to -its fate, was fairly quiet, and looked about with its ears pricked -forward. The wolves which I subsequently saw him capture, and, having -tied up their muzzles, hold before him on the saddle, acted in precisely -the same manner. - -The run had been about ten miles in an almost straight line. At the -finish no other riders were in sight, but soon after we crossed the -divide on our return, and began to come down the long slope toward the -creek, we were joined by Tom Burnett and Bony Moore; while some three or -four miles ahead on a rise of the prairie we could see the wagon in -which Burke Burnett was driving General Young. Other punchers and -straggling greyhounds joined us, and as the wolf, after travelling some -five miles, began to recover his wind and show a tendency to fight for -his freedom, Abernethy tied up his jaws with his handkerchief and handed -him over to Bony Moore, who packed him on the saddle with entire -indifference, the wolf himself showing a curious philosophy. Our horses -had recovered their wind and we struck into a gallop down the slope; -then as we neared the wagon we broke into a run, Bony Moore brandishing -aloft with one hand the live wolf, its jaws tied up with a handkerchief, -but otherwise unbound. We stopped for a few minutes with Burnett and the -general to tell particulars of the hunt. Then we loped off again toward -camp, which was some half dozen miles off. I shall always remember this -run and the really remarkable feat Abernethy performed. Colonel Lyon had -seen him catch a big wolf in the same way that he caught this coyote. It -was his usual method of catching both coyotes and wolves. Almost equally -noteworthy were the way in which he handled and helped his greyhounds, -and the judgment, resolution, and fine horsemanship he displayed. His -horse showed extraordinary endurance. - -The third day we started out as usual, the chuck wagon driving straight -to a pool far out on the prairie, where we were to meet it for lunch. -Chief Quanah’s three wives had joined him, together with a small boy and -a baby, and they drove in a wagon of their own. Meanwhile the riders and -hounds went south nearly to Red River. In the morning we caught four -coyotes and had a three miles run after one which started too far ahead -of the dogs, and finally got clean away. All the four that we got were -started fairly close up, and the run was a breakneck scurry, horses and -hounds going as hard as they could put feet to the ground. Twice the -cowboys distanced me; and twice the accidents of the chase, the sudden -twists and turns of the coyote in his efforts to take advantage of the -ground, favored me and enabled me to be close up at the end, when -Abernethy jumped off his horse and ran in to where the dogs had the -coyote. He was even quicker with his hands than the wolf’s snap, and in -a moment he always had the coyote by the lower jaw. - -Between the runs we shogged forward across the great reaches of rolling -prairie in the bright sunlight. The air was wonderfully clear, and any -object on the sky-line, no matter how small, stood out with startling -distinctness. There were few flowers on these dry plains; in sharp -contrast to the flower prairies of southern Texas, which we had left the -week before, where many acres for a stretch would be covered by masses -of red or white or blue or yellow blossoms—the most striking of all, -perhaps, being the fields of the handsome buffalo clover. As we plodded -over the prairie the sharp eyes of the punchers were scanning the ground -far and near, and sooner or later one of them would spy the motionless -form of a coyote, or all would have their attention attracted as it ran -like a fleeting gray or brown shadow among the grays and browns of the -desolate landscape. Immediately dogs and horses would stretch at full -speed after it, and everything would be forgotten but the wild -exhilaration of the run. - -[Illustration: - - ABERNETHY AND COYOTE - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -It was nearly noon when we struck the chuck wagon. Immediately the handy -round-up cook began to prepare a delicious dinner, and we ate as men -have a right to eat, who have ridden all the morning and are going to -ride fresh horses all the afternoon. Soon afterward the horse-wranglers -drove up the saddle band, while some of the cow-punchers made a rope -corral from the side of the wagon. Into this the horses were driven, one -or two breaking back and being brought into the bunch again only after a -gallop more exciting than most coyote chases. Fresh ponies were roped -out and the saddle band again turned loose. The dogs that had been used -during the morning then started campward with the chuck wagon. One of -the punchers was riding a young and partially broken horse; he had no -bridle, simply a rope around the horse’s neck. This man started to -accompany the wagon to the camp. - -The rest of us went off at the usual cow-pony trot or running walk. It -was an hour or two before we saw anything; then a coyote appeared a long -way ahead and the dogs raced after him. The first mile was up a gentle -slope; then we turned, and after riding a couple of miles on the level -the dogs had shot their bolt and the coyote drew away. When he got too -far in front the dogs and foremost riders stopped and waited for the -rest of us to overtake them, and shortly afterward Burke Burnett and the -general appeared in their buggy. One of the greyhounds was completely -done out and we took some time attending to it. Suddenly one of the men, -either Tom Burnett or Bony Moore, called out that he saw the coyote -coming back pursued by a horseman. Sure enough, the unfortunate little -wolf had run in sight of the wagons, and the puncher on the young -unbridled horse immediately took after him, and, in spite of a fall, -succeeded in heading him back and bringing him along in our direction, -although some three-quarters of a mile away. Immediately everyone jumped -into his saddle and away we all streamed down a long slope diagonally to -the course the coyote was taking. He had a long start, but the dogs were -rested, while he had been running steadily, and this fact proved fatal -to him. Down the slope to the creek bottom at its end we rode at a run. -Then there came a long slope upward, and the heavier among us fell -gradually to the rear. When we topped the divide, however, we could see -ahead of us the foremost men streaming after the hounds, and the latter -running in a way which showed that they were well up on their game. Even -a tired horse can go pretty well down hill, and by dint of hard running -we who were behind got up in time to see the worry when the greyhounds -caught the coyote, by some low ponds in a treeless creek bed. We had -gone about seven miles, the unlucky coyote at least ten. Our journey to -camp was enlivened by catching another coyote after a short run. - -Next day was the last of our hunt. We started off in the morning as -usual, but the buggy men on this occasion took with them some trail -hounds, which were managed by a sergeant of the regular army, a game -sportsman. They caught two coons in the timber of a creek two or three -miles to the south of the camp. Meanwhile the rest of us, riding over -the prairie, saw the greyhounds catch two coyotes, one after a rather -long run and one after a short one. Then we turned our faces toward -camp. I saw Abernethy, with three or four of his own hounds, riding off -to one side, but unfortunately I did not pay any heed to him, as I -supposed the hunting was at an end. But when we reached camp Abernethy -was not there, nor did he turn up until we were finishing lunch. Then he -suddenly appeared, his tired greyhounds trotting behind him, while he -carried before him on the saddle a live coyote, with its muzzle tied up, -and a dead coyote strapped behind his saddle. Soon after leaving us he -had found a coyote, and after a good run the dogs had stopped it and he -had jumped off and captured it in his usual fashion. Then while riding -along, holding the coyote before him on the saddle, he put up another -one. His dogs were tired, and he himself was of course greatly hampered -in such a full-speed run by having the live wolf on the saddle in front -of him. One by one the dogs gave out, but his encouragement and -assistance kept two of them to their work, and after a run of some seven -miles the coyote was overtaken. It was completely done out and would -probably have died by itself, even if the hounds had not taken part in -the killing. Hampered as he was, Abernethy could not take it alive in -his usual fashion. So when it was dead he packed it behind his horse and -rode back in triumph. The live wolf, as in every other case where one -was brought into camp, made curiously little effort to fight with its -paws, seeming to acquiesce in its captivity, and looking around, with -its ears thrust forward, as if more influenced by curiosity than by any -other feeling. - -After lunch we rode toward town, stopping at nightfall to take supper by -the bank of a creek. We entered the town after dark, some twenty of us -on horseback. Wagner was riding with us, and he had set his heart upon -coming into and through the town in true cowboy style; and it was he who -set the pace. We broke into a lope a mile outside the limits, and by the -time we struck the main street the horses were on a run and we tore down -like a whirlwind until we reached the train. Thus ended as pleasant a -hunting trip as any one could imagine. The party got seventeen coyotes -all told, for there were some runs which I did not see at all, as now -and then both men and dogs would get split into groups. - -On this hunt we did not see any of the big wolves, the so-called buffalo -or timber wolves, which I hunted in the old days on the Northern cattle -plains. Big wolves are found in both Texas and Oklahoma, but they are -rare compared to the coyotes; and they are great wanderers. Alone or in -parties of three or four or half a dozen they travel to and fro across -the country, often leaving a district at once if they are molested. -Coyotes are more or less plentiful everywhere throughout the West in -thinly settled districts, and they often hang about in the immediate -neighborhood of towns. They do enough damage to make farmers and -ranchers kill them whenever the chance offers. But this damage is not -appreciable when compared with the ravages of their grim big brother, -the gray wolf, which, wherever it exists in numbers, is a veritable -scourge to the stockmen. - -Colonel Lyon’s hounds were, as I have said, used chiefly after -jack-rabbits. He had frequently killed coyotes with them, however, and -on two or three occasions one of the big gray wolves. At the time when -he did most of his wolf-hunting he had with the greyhounds a huge -fighting dog, a Great Dane, weighing one hundred and forty-five pounds. -In spite of its weight this dog could keep up well in a short chase, and -its ferocious temper and enormous weight and strength made it invaluable -at the bay. Whether the quarry were a gray wolf or coyote mattered not -in the least to it, and it made its assaults with such headlong fury -that it generally escaped damage. On the two or three occasions when the -animal bayed was a big wolf the greyhounds did not dare tackle it, -jumping about in an irregular circle and threatening the wolf until the -fighting dog came up. The latter at once rushed in, seizing its -antagonist by the throat or neck and throwing it. Doubtless it would -have killed the wolf unassisted, but the greyhounds always joined in the -killing; and once thrown, the wolf could never get on his legs. In these -encounters the dog was never seriously hurt. Rather curiously, the only -bad wound it ever received was from a coyote; the little wolf, not -one-third of its weight, managing to inflict a terrific gash down its -huge antagonist’s chest, nearly tearing it open. But of course a coyote -against such a foe could not last much longer than a rat pitted against -a terrier. - -Big wolves and coyotes are found side by side throughout the Western -United States, both varying so in size that if a sufficient number of -specimens, from different localities, are examined it will be found that -there is a complete intergradation in both stature and weight. To the -northward the coyotes disappear, and the big wolves grow larger and -larger until in the arctic regions they become veritable giants. At -Point Barrow Mr. E. A. McIlhenny had six of the eight “huskies” of his -dog team killed and eaten by a huge white dog wolf. At last he shot it, -and found that it weighed one hundred and sixty-one pounds. - -Good trail hounds can run down a wolf. A year ago Jake Borah’s pack in -northwestern Colorado ran a big wolf weighing one hundred and fifteen -pounds to bay in but little over an hour. He then stood with his back to -a rock, and though the dogs formed a semicircle around him, they dared -not tackle him. Jake got up and shot him. Unless well trained and with -the natural fighting edge neither trail hounds (fox-hounds) nor -greyhounds can or will kill a big wolf, and under ordinary -circumstances, no matter how numerous, they make but a poor showing -against one. But big ninety-pound or one hundred-pound greyhounds, -specially bred and trained for the purpose, stand on an entirely -different footing. Three or four of these dogs, rushing in together and -seizing the wolf by the throat, will kill him, or worry him until he is -helpless. On several occasions the Colorado Springs greyhounds have -performed this feat. Johnny Goff owned a large, fierce dog, a cross -between what he called a Siberian bloodhound (I suppose some animal like -a Great Dane) and an ordinary hound, which, on one occasion when he had -shot at and broken the hind leg of a big wolf, ran it down and killed -it. On the other hand, wolves will often attack dogs. In March of the -present year—nineteen hundred and five—Goff’s dogs were scattered over a -hillside hunting a bobcat, when he heard one of them yell, and looking -up saw that two wolves were chasing it. The other dogs were so busy -puzzling out the cat’s trail that they never noticed what was happening. -Goff called aloud, whereupon the wolves stopped. He shot one and the -other escaped. He thinks that they would have overtaken and killed the -hound in a minute or two if he had not interfered. - -The big wolves shrink back before the growth of the thickly settled -districts, and in the Eastern States they often tend to disappear even -from districts that are uninhabited save by a few wilderness hunters. -They have thus disappeared almost entirely from Maine, the Adirondacks, -and the Alleghanies, although here and there they are said to be -returning to their old haunts. Their disappearance is rather mysterious -in some instances, for they are certainly not all killed off. The black -bear is much easier killed, yet the black bear holds its own in many -parts of the land from which the wolf has vanished. No animal is quite -so difficult to kill as is the wolf, whether by poison or rifle or -hound. Yet, after a comparatively few have been slain, the entire -species will perhaps vanish from certain localities. In some localities -even the cougar, the easiest of all game to kill with hounds, holds its -own better. This, however, is not generally true. - -But with all wild animals, it is a noticeable fact that a course of -contact with man continuing over many generations of animal life causes -a species so to adapt itself to its new surroundings that it can hold -its own far better than formerly. When white men take up a new country, -the game, and especially the big game, being entirely unused to contend -with the new foe, succumb easily, and are almost completely killed out. -If any individuals survive at all, however, the succeeding generations -are far more difficult to exterminate than were their ancestors, and -they cling much more tenaciously to their old homes. The game to be -found in old and long-settled countries is of course much more wary and -able to take care of itself than the game of an untrodden wilderness; it -is the wilderness life, far more than the actual killing of the -wilderness game, which tests the ability of the wilderness hunter. - -[Illustration: - - ABERNETHY RETURNS FROM THE HUNT - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -After a time, game may even, for the time being, increase in certain -districts where settlements are thin. This was true of the wolves -throughout the northern cattle country, in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, -and the western ends of the Dakotas. In the old days wolves were very -plentiful throughout this region, closely following the huge herds of -buffaloes. The white men who followed these herds as professional -buffalo-hunters were often accompanied by other men, known as wolfers, -who poisoned these wolves for the sake of their fur. With the -disappearance of the buffalo the wolves diminished in numbers so that -they also seemed to disappear. Then in the late eighties or early -nineties the wolves began again to increase in numbers until they became -once more as numerous as ever and infinitely more wary and difficult to -kill; though as they were nocturnal in their habits they were not often -seen. Along the Little Missouri and in many parts of Montana and Wyoming -this increase was very noticeable during the last decade of the -nineteenth century. They were at that time the only big animals of the -region which had increased in numbers. Such an increase following a -previous decrease in the same region was both curious and interesting. I -never knew the wolves to be so numerous or so daring in their assaults -upon stock in the Little Missouri country as in the years 1894 to 1896 -inclusive. I am unable wholly to account for these changes. The first -great diminution in the numbers of the wolves is only partially to be -explained by the poisoning; yet they seemed to disappear almost -everywhere and for a number of years continued scarce. Then they again -became plentiful, reappearing in districts from whence they had entirely -vanished, and appearing in new districts where they had been hitherto -unknown. Then they once more began to diminish in number. In -northwestern Colorado, in the White River country, cougars fairly -swarmed in the early nineties, while up to that time the big gray wolves -were almost or entirely unknown. Then they began to come in, and -increased steadily in numbers, while the cougars diminished, so that by -the winter of 1902–3 they much outnumbered the big cats, and committed -great ravages among the stock. The settlers were at their wits’ ends how -to deal with the pests. At last a trapper came in, a shiftless fellow, -but extraordinarily proficient in his work. He had some kind of scent, -the secret of which he would not reveal, which seemed to drive the -wolves nearly crazy with desire. In one winter in the neighborhood of -the Keystone Ranch he trapped forty-two big gray wolves; they still -outnumber the cougars, which in that neighborhood have been nearly -killed out, but they are no longer abundant. - -At present wolves are decreasing in numbers all over Colorado, as they -are in Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. In some localities traps have -been found most effective; in others, poison; and in yet others, hounds. -I am inclined to think that where they have been pursued in one manner -for a long time any new method will at first prove more efficacious. -After a very few wolves have been poisoned or trapped, the survivors -become so wary that only a master in the art can do anything with them, -while there are always a few wolves which cannot be persuaded to touch a -bait save under wholly exceptional circumstances. From association with -the old she-wolves the cubs learn as soon as they are able to walk to -avoid man’s traces in every way, and to look out for traps and poison. -They are so shy and show such extraordinary cunning in hiding and -slinking out of the way of the hunter that they are rarely killed with -the rifle. Personally I never shot but one. A bold and good rider on a -first-rate horse can, however, run down even a big gray wolf in fair -chase, and either rope or shoot it. I have known a number of -cow-punchers thus to rope wolves when they happened to run across them -after they had gorged themselves on their quarry. A former Colorado -ranchman, Mr. Henry N. Pancoast, who had done a good deal of -wolf-hunting, and had killed one which, judging by its skin, was a -veritable monster, wrote me as follows about his experiences: - -“I captured nearly all my wolves by running them down and then either -roped or shot them. I had one mount that had great endurance, and when -riding him never failed to give chase to a wolf if I had the time to -spare; and never failed to get my quarry but two or three times. I roped -four full-grown and two cubs and shot five full-grown and three cubs—the -large wolf in question being killed that way. And he was by far the -hardest proposition I ever tried, and I candidly think I run him twenty -miles before overhauling and shooting him (he showed too much fight to -use a rope). As it was almost dark, concluded to put him on horse and -skin at ranch, but had my hands full to get him on the saddle, was so -very heavy. My plan in running wolves down was to get about three -hundred yards from them, and then to keep that distance until the wolf -showed signs of fatigue, when a little spurt would generally succeed in -landing him. In the case of the large one, however, I reckoned without -my host, as the wolf had as much go left as the horse, so I tried -slowing down to a walk and let the wolf go; he ... came down to a little -trot and soon placed a half mile between us, and finally went out of -sight over a high hill. I took my time and on reaching top of hill saw -wolf about four hundred yards off, and as I now had a down grade managed -to get my tired horse on a lope and was soon up to the wolf, which -seemed all stiffened up, and one shot from my Winchester finished him. -We always had poison out, as wolves and coyotes killed a great many -calves. Never poisoned but two wolves, and those were caught with fresh -antelope liver and entrails (coyotes were easily poisoned).” - -[Illustration: - - BONY MOORE AND THE COYOTE - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -In the early nineties the ravages of the wolves along the Little -Missouri became so serious as thoroughly to arouse the stockmen. Not -only colts and calves, and young trail stock, but in midwinter -full-grown horses and steers were continually slain. The county -authorities put a bounty of three dollars each on wolf scalps, to which -the ranchmen of the neighborhood added a further bounty of five dollars. -This made eight dollars for every wolf, and as the skin was also worth -something, the business of killing wolves became profitable. Quite a -number of men tried poisoning or trapping, but the most successful wolf -hunter on the Little Missouri at that time was a man who did not rely on -poison at all, but on dogs. He was named Massingale, and he always had a -pack of at least twenty hounds. The number varied, for a wolf at bay is -a terrible fighter, with jaws like those of a steel trap, and teeth that -cut like knives, so that the dogs were continually disabled and -sometimes killed, and the hunter had always to be on the watch to add -animals to his pack. It was not a good-looking pack, but it was -thoroughly fit for its own work. Most of the dogs were greyhounds, -whether rough or smooth haired, but many of them were big mongrels, part -greyhound and part some other breed, such as bulldog, mastiff, -Newfoundland, bloodhound, or collie. The only two requisites were that -the dogs should run fast and fight gamely; and in consequence they -formed as wicked, hard-biting a crew as ever ran down and throttled a -wolf. They were usually taken out ten at a time, and by their aid -Massingale killed over two hundred wolves, including cubs. Of course -there was no pretence of giving the game fair play. The wolves were -killed as vermin, not for sport. The greatest havoc was in the -spring-time, when the she-wolves were followed to their dens. Some of -the hounds were very fast, and they could usually overtake a young or -weak wolf; but an old dog wolf, with a good start, unless run into at -once, would ordinarily get away if he were in running trim. Frequently, -however, he was caught when not in running trim, for the hunter was apt -to find him when he had killed a calf or taken part in dragging down a -horse or steer, and was gorged with meat. Under these circumstances he -could not run long before the pack. If possible, as with all such packs, -the hunter himself got up in time to end the worry by a stab of his -hunting-knife; but unless he was quick he had nothing to do, for the -pack was thoroughly competent to do its own killing. Grim fighter though -a great dog wolf is, he stands no show before the onslaught of ten such -hounds, agile and powerful, who rush on their antagonist in a body. -Massingale’s dogs possessed great power in their jaws, and unless he was -up within two or three minutes after the wolf was overtaken, they tore -him to death, though one or more of their number might be killed or -crippled in the fight. The wolf might be throttled without having the -hide on its neck torn; but when it was stretched out the dogs ripped -open its belly. Dogs do not get their teeth through the skin of an old -cougar; but they will tear up either a bobcat or coyote. - -In 1894 and 1896 I saw a number of wolves on the Little Missouri, -although I was not looking for them. I frequently came upon the remains -of sheep and young stock which they had killed; and once, upon the top -of a small plateau, I found the body of a large steer, while the torn -and trodden ground showed that he had fought hard for his life before -succumbing. There had been two wolves engaged in the work, and the -cunning beasts had evidently acted in concert. Apparently, while one -attracted the steer’s attention in front, the other, according to the -invariable wolf habit, attacked him from behind, hamstringing him and -tearing out his flanks. His body was still warm when I came up, but the -marauders had slunk off, either seeing or smelling me. There was no -mistaking the criminals, however, for, unlike bears, which usually -attack an animal at the withers, or cougars, which attack the throat or -head, wolves almost invariably attack their victim at the hind quarters -and begin first on the hams or flanks, if the animal is of any size. -Owing to their often acting in couples or in packs, the big wolves do -more damage to horned stock than cougars, but they are not as dangerous -to colts, and they are not nearly as expert as the big cats in catching -deer and mountain sheep. When food is plentiful, good observers say that -they will not try to molest foxes; but, if hungry, they certainly snap -them up as quickly as they would fawns. Ordinarily they show complete -tolerance of the coyotes; yet one bitter winter I knew of a coyote being -killed and eaten by a wolf. - -Not only do the habits of wild beasts change under changing conditions -as time goes on, but there seems to be some change even in their -appearance. Thus the early observers of the game of the Little Missouri, -those who wrote in the first half of the nineteenth century, spoke much -of the white wolves which were then so common in the region. These white -wolves represented in all probability only a color variety of the -ordinary gray wolf; and it is difficult to say exactly why they -disappeared. Yet when about the year 1890 wolves again grew common these -white wolves were very, very rare; indeed I never personally heard of -but one being seen. This was on the Upper Cannonball in 1892. A nearly -black wolf was killed not far from this spot in the year 1893. At the -present day black wolves are more common than white wolves, which are -rare indeed. But all these big wolves are now decreasing in numbers, and -in most places are decreasing rapidly. - -It will be noticed that on some points my observations about wolves are -in seeming conflict with those of other observers as competent as I am; -but I think the conflict is more seeming than real, and I have concluded -to let my words stand. The great book of nature contains many pages -which are hard to read, and at times conscientious students may well -draw different interpretations of the obscure and least-known texts. It -may not be that either observer is at fault, but what is true of an -animal in one locality may not be true of the same animal in another, -and even in the same locality two individuals of the same species may -differ widely in their traits and habits. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - HUNTING IN THE CATTLE COUNTRY; THE PRONGBUCK - - -The prongbuck is the most characteristic and distinctive of American -game animals. Zoologically speaking, its position is unique. It is the -only hollow-horned ruminant which sheds its horns, or rather the horn -sheaths. We speak of it as an antelope, and it does of course represent -on our prairies the antelopes of the Old World; but it stands apart from -all other horned animals. Its place in the natural world is almost as -lonely as that of the giraffe. In all its ways and habits it differs as -much from deer and elk as from goat and sheep. Now that the buffalo has -gone, it is the only game really at home on the wide plains. It is a -striking-looking little creature, with its prominent eyes, -single-pronged horns, and the sharply contrasted white, brown and -reddish of its coat. The brittle hair is stiff, coarse and springy; on -the rump it is brilliantly white, and is erected when the animal is -alarmed or excited, so as to be very conspicuous. In marked contrast to -deer, antelope never seek to elude observation; all they care for is to -be able themselves to see. As they have good noses and wonderful eyes, -and as they live by preference where there is little or no cover, shots -at them are usually obtained at far longer range than is the case with -other game; and yet, as they are easily seen, and often stand looking at -the hunter just barely within very long rifle-range, they are always -tempting their pursuer to the expenditure of cartridges. More shots are -wasted at antelope than at any other game. They would be even harder to -secure were it not that they are subject to fits of panic folly, or -excessive curiosity, which occasionally put them fairly at the mercy of -the rifle-bearing hunter. - -In the old days the prongbuck was found as soon as the westward-moving -traveller left the green bottom-lands of the Mississippi, and from -thence across to the dry, open valleys of California, and northward to -Canada and southward into Mexico. It has everywhere been gradually -thinned out, and has vanished altogether from what were formerly the -extreme easterly and westerly limits of its range. The rates of -extermination of the different kinds of big game have been very unequal -in different localities. Each kind of big game has had its own peculiar -habitat in which it throve best, and each has also been found more or -less plentifully in other regions where the circumstances were less -favorable; and in these comparatively unfavorable regions it early tends -to disappear before the advance of man. In consequence, where the ranges -of the different game animals overlap and are intertwined, one will -disappear first in one locality, and another will disappear first where -the conditions are different. Thus the whitetail deer had thrust forward -along the very narrow river bottoms into the domain of the mule-deer and -the prongbuck among the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and in these -places it was exterminated from the narrow strips which it inhabited -long before the mule-deer vanished from the high hills, or the prongbuck -from the great open plains. But along great portions of the Missouri -there are plenty of whitetails yet left in the river bottoms, while the -mule-deer that once dwelt in the broken hills behind them, and the -prongbuck which lived on the prairie just back of these bluffs, have -both disappeared. In the same way the mule-deer and the prongbuck are -often found almost intermingled through large regions in which plains, -hills, and mountains alternate. If such a region is mainly mountainous, -but contains a few valleys and table-lands, the prongbuck is sure to -vanish from the latter before the mule-deer vanishes from the broken -country. But if the region is one primarily of plains, with here and -there rows of rocky hills in which the mule-deer is found, the latter is -killed off long before the prongbuck can be hunted out of the great open -stretches. The same is true of the pronghorn and the wapiti. The size -and value of the wapiti make it an object of eager persecution on the -part of hunters. But as it can live in the forest-clad fastnesses of the -Rockies, into which settlement does not go, it outlasts over great -regions the pronghorn, whose abode is easily penetrated by sheep and -cattle men. Under anything like even conditions, however, the prongbuck, -of course, outlasts the wapiti. This was the case on the Little -Missouri. On that stream the bighorn also outlasted the wapiti. In 1881 -wapiti were still much more plentiful than bighorns. Within the next -decade they had almost totally disappeared, while the bighorn was still -to be found; I shot one and saw others in 1893, at which time I had not -authentic information of a single wapiti remaining anywhere on the river -in my neighborhood, although it is possible that one or two still lurked -in some out-of-the-way recess. In Colorado at one time the bighorn was -nearly exterminated, while the wapiti still withstood the havoc made -among its huge herds; then followed a period in which the rapidity of -destruction of the wapiti increased far beyond that of the bighorn. - -I mention these facts partly because they are of interest in themselves, -but chiefly because they tend to explain the widely different opinions -expressed by competent observers about what superficially seem to be -similar facts. It cannot be too often repeated that allowance must be -made for the individual variability in the traits and characters of -animals of the same species, and especially of the same species under -different circumstances and in different localities; and allowance must -also be made for the variability of the individual factor in the -observers themselves. Many seemingly contradictory observations of the -habits of deer, wapiti, and prongbuck will be found in books by the best -hunters. Take such questions as the keenness of sight of the deer as -compared with the prongbuck, and of the pugnacity of the wapiti, both -actual and relative, and a wide difference of opinion will be found in -three such standard works as Dodge’s “The Hunting-grounds of the Great -West,” Caton’s “Deer and Antelope of America,” and the contributions of -Mr. Grinnell to the “Century Book of Sports.” Sometimes the difference -will be in mere matters of opinion, as, for instance, in the belief as -to the relative worth of the sport furnished by the chase of the -different creatures; but sometimes there is a direct conflict of fact. -Colonel Dodge, for instance, has put it upon record that the wapiti is -an exceedingly gentle animal, less dangerous than a whitetail or -blacktail buck in a close encounter, and that the bulls hardly ever -fight among themselves. My own experience leads me to traverse in the -most emphatic manner every one of these conclusions, and all hunters -whom I have met feel exactly as I do; yet no one would question for a -moment Colonel Dodge’s general competency as an observer. In the same -way Mr. Grinnell has a high opinion of the deer’s keenness of sight. -Judge Caton absolutely disagrees with him, and my own experience tends -to agree with that of the Judge—at least to the extent of placing the -deer’s vision far below that of the prongbuck and even that of the -bighorn, and only on a par with that of the wapiti. Yet Mr. Grinnell is -an unusually competent observer, whose opinion on any such subject is -entitled to unqualified respect. - -Difference in habits may be due simply to difference of locality, or to -the need of adaptation to new conditions. The prongbuck’s habits about -migration offer examples of the former kind of difference. Over portions -of its range the prongbuck is not migratory at all. In other parts the -migrations are purely local. In yet other regions the migrations are -continued for great distances, immense multitudes of the animals going -to and fro in the spring and fall along well-beaten tracks. I know of -one place in New Mexico where the pronghorn herds are tenants of certain -great plains throughout the entire year. I know another region in -northwestern Colorado where the very few prongbucks still left, though -they shift from valley to valley, yet spend the whole year in the same -stretch of rolling, barren country. On the Little Missouri, however, -during the eighties and early nineties, there was a very distinct though -usually local migration. Before the Black Hills had been settled they -were famous wintering places for the antelope, which swarmed from great -distances to them when cold weather approached; those which had summered -east of the Big Missouri actually swam the river in great herds, on -their journey to the Hills. The old hunters around my ranch insisted -that formerly the prongbuck had for the most part travelled from the -Little Missouri Bad Lands into the Black Hills for the winter. - -[Illustration: - - ON THE LITTLE MISSOURI -] - -When I was ranching on that river, however, this custom no longer -obtained, for the Black Hills were too well settled, and the herds of -prongbuck that wintered there were steadily diminishing in numbers. At -that time, from 1883 to 1896, the seasonal change in habits, and shift -of position, of the prongbucks were well marked. As soon as the new -grass sprang they appeared in great numbers upon the plains. They were -especially fond of the green, tender blades that came up where the -country had been burned over. If the region had been devastated by -prairie fires in the fall, the next spring it was certain to contain -hundreds and thousands of prongbucks. All through the summer they -remained out on these great open plains, coming to drink at the little -pools in the creek beds, and living where there was no shelter of any -kind. As winter approached they began to gather in bands. Some of these -bands apparently had regular wintering places to the south of us, in -Pretty Buttes and beyond; and close to my ranch, at the crossing of the -creek called Beaver, there were certain trails which these antelope -regularly travelled, northward in the spring and southward in the fall. -But other bands would seek out places in the Bad Lands near by, -gathering together on some succession of plateaus which were protected -by neighboring hills from the deep drifts of snow. Here they passed the -winter, on short commons, it is true (they graze, not browsing like -deer), but without danger of perishing in the snowdrifts. On the other -hand, if the skin-hunters discovered such a wintering place, they were -able to butcher practically the entire band, if they so desired, as the -prongbucks were always most reluctant to leave such a chosen ground. - -Normally the prongbuck avoids both broken ground and timber. It is a -queer animal, with keen senses, but with streaks of utter folly in its -character. Time and again I have known bands rush right by me, when I -happened to surprise them feeding near timber or hills, and got between -them and the open plains. The animals could have escaped without the -least difficulty if they had been willing to go into the broken country, -or through even a few rods of trees and brush; and yet they preferred to -rush madly by me at close range, in order to get out to their favorite -haunts. But nowadays there are certain localities where the prongbucks -spend a large part of their time in the timber or in rough, hilly -country, feeding and bringing up their young in such localities. - -Typically, however, the prongbuck is preeminently a beast of the great -open plains, eating their harsh, dry pasturage, and trusting to its own -keen senses and speed for its safety. All the deer are fond of skulking; -the whitetail preeminently so. The prongbuck, on the contrary, never -endeavors to elude observation. Its sole aim is to be able to see its -enemies, and it cares nothing whatever about its enemies seeing it. Its -coloring is very conspicuous, and is rendered still more so by its habit -of erecting the white hair on its rump. It has a very erect carriage, -and when it thinks itself in danger it always endeavors to get on some -crest or low hill from which it can look all about. The big bulging -eyes, situated at the base of the horns, scan the horizon far and near -like twin telescopes. They pick out an object at such a distance that it -would entirely escape the notice of a deer. When suspicious, they have a -habit of barking, uttering a sound something like “kau,” and repeating -it again and again, as they walk up and down, endeavoring to find out if -danger lurks in the unusual object. They are extremely curious, and in -the old days it was often possible to lure them toward the hunter by -waving a red handkerchief to and fro on a stick, or even by lying on -one’s back and kicking the legs. Nowadays, however, there are very few -localities indeed in which they are sufficiently unsophisticated to make -it worth while trying these time-honored tricks of the long-vanished -trappers and hunters. - -Along the Little Missouri the fawns, sometimes one and sometimes two in -number, were dropped in May or early in June. At that time the antelope -were usually found in herds which the mother did not leave until she was -about to give birth to the fawn. During the first few days the fawn’s -safety is to be found only in its not attracting attention. During this -time it normally lies perfectly flat on the ground, with its head -outstretched, and makes no effort to escape. While out on the spring -round-up I have come across many of these fawns. Once, in company with -several cowboys, I was riding behind a bunch of cattle which, as we -hurried them, spread out in open order ahead of us. Happening to cast -down my eyes I saw an antelope fawn directly ahead of me. The bunch of -cattle had passed all around it, but it made not the slightest sign, not -even when I halted, got off my pony, and took it up in my arms. It was -useless to take it to camp and try to rear it, and so I speedily put it -down again. Scanning the neighborhood, I saw the doe hanging about some -half a mile off, and when I looked back from the next divide I could see -her gradually drawing near to the fawn. - -If taken when very young, antelope make cunning and amusing pets, and I -have often seen them around the ranches. There was one in the ranch of a -Mrs. Blank who had a station on the Deadwood stage line some eighteen -years ago. She was a great worker in buckskin, and I got her to make me -the buckskin shirt I still use. There was an antelope fawn that lived at -the house, wandering wherever it wished; but it would not permit me to -touch it. As I sat inside the house it would come in and hop up on a -chair, looking at me sharply all the while. No matter how cautiously I -approached, I could never put my hand upon it, as at the last moment it -would spring off literally as quick as a bird would fly. One of my -neighbors on the Little Missouri, Mr. Howard Eaton, had at one time upon -his ranch three little antelope whose foster-mother was a sheep, and who -were really absurdly tame. I was fond of patting them and of giving them -crusts, and the result was that they followed me about so closely that I -had to be always on the lookout to see that I did not injure them. They -were on excellent terms with the dogs, and were very playful. It was a -comic sight to see them skipping and hopping about the old ewe when -anything happened to alarm her and she started off at a clumsy waddle. -Nothing could surpass the tameness of the antelope that are now under -Mr. Hornaday’s care at the Bronx Zoological Garden in New York. The last -time that I visited the garden some repairs were being made inside the -antelope enclosure, and a dozen workmen had gone in to make them. The -antelope regarded the workmen with a friendliness and curiosity -untempered by the slightest touch of apprehension. When the men took off -their coats the little creatures would nose them over to see if they -contained anything edible, and they would come close up and watch the -men plying the pick with the utmost interest. Mr. Hornaday took us -inside, and they all came up in the most friendly manner. One or two of -the bucks would put their heads against our legs and try to push us -around, but not roughly. Mr. Hornaday told me that he was having great -difficulty, exactly as with the mule-deer, in acclimatizing the -antelope, especially as the food was so different from what they were -accustomed to in their native haunts. - -The wild fawns are able to run well a few days after they are born. They -then accompany the mother everywhere. Sometimes she joins a band of -others; more often she stays alone with her fawn, and perhaps one of the -young of the previous year, until the rut begins. Of all game the -prongbuck seems to me the most excitable during the rut. The males run -the does much as do the bucks of the mule and whitetail deer. If there -are no does present, I have sometimes watched a buck run to and fro by -himself. The first time I saw this I was greatly interested, and could -form no idea of what the buck was doing. He was by a creek bed in a -slight depression or shallow valley, and was grazing uneasily. After a -little while he suddenly started and ran just as hard as he could, off -in a straight direction, nearly away from me. I thought that somehow or -other he had discovered my presence; but he suddenly wheeled and came -back to the original place, still running at his utmost speed. Then he -halted, moved about with the white hairs on his rump outspread, and -again dashed off at full speed, halted, wheeled, and came back. Two or -three times he did this, and let me get very close to him before he -discovered me. I was too much interested in what he was doing to desire -to shoot him. - -In September, sometimes not earlier than October, the big bucks begin to -gather the does into harems. Each buck is then constantly on the watch -to protect his harem from outsiders, and steal another doe if he can get -a chance. I have seen a comparatively young buck who had appropriated a -doe, hustle her hastily out of the country as soon as he saw another -antelope in the neighborhood; while, on the other hand, a big buck, -already with a good herd of does, will do his best to appropriate any -other that comes in sight. The bucks fight fearlessly but harmlessly -among themselves, locking their horns and then pushing as hard as they -can. - -Although their horns are not very formidable weapons, they are bold -little creatures, and if given a chance will stand at bay before either -hound or coyote. A doe will fight most gallantly for her fawn, and is an -overmatch for a single coyote, but of course she can do but little -against a large wolf. The wolves are occasionally very destructive to -the herds. The cougar, however, which is a much worse foe than the wolf -to deer and mountain sheep, can but rarely molest the prongbuck, owing -to the nature of the latter’s haunts. Eagles, on occasion, take the -fawns, as they do those of deer. - -I have always been fond of the chase of the prongbuck. While I lived on -my ranch on the Little Missouri it was, next to the mule-deer, the game -which I most often followed, and on the long wagon strips which I -occasionally took from my ranch to the Black Hills, to the Big Horn -Mountains, or into eastern Montana, prongbuck venison was our usual -fresh meat, save when we could kill prairie-chickens and ducks with our -rifles, which was not always feasible. In my mind the prongbuck is -always associated with the open prairies during the spring, summer, or -early fall. It has happened that I have generally pursued the bighorn in -bitter weather; and when we laid in our stock of winter meat, mule-deer -was our usual game. Though I have shot prongbuck in winter, I never -liked to do so, as I felt the animals were then having a sufficiently -hard struggle for existence anyhow. But in the spring the meat of the -prongbuck was better than that of any other game, and, moreover, there -was not the least danger of mistaking the sexes, and killing a doe -accidentally, and accordingly I rarely killed anything but pronghorns at -that season. In those days we never got any fresh meat, whether on the -ranch or while on the round-up or on a wagon trip, unless we shot it, -and salt pork became a most monotonous diet after a time. - -Occasionally I killed the prongbuck in a day’s hunt from my ranch. If I -started with the intention of prongbuck hunting, I always went on -horseback; but twice I killed them on foot when I happened to run across -them by accident while looking for mule-deer. I shall always remember -one of these occasions. I was alone in the Elkhorn ranch-house at the -time, my foreman and the only cow-puncher who was not on the round-up -having driven to Medora, some forty miles away, in order to bring down -the foreman’s wife and sister, who were going to spend the summer with -him. It was the fourth day of his absence. I expected him in the evening -and wanted to have fresh meat, and so after dinner I shouldered my rifle -and strolled off through the hills. It was too early in the day to -expect to see anything, and my intention was simply to walk out until I -was five or six miles from the ranch, and then work carefully home -through a likely country toward sunset, as by this arrangement I would -be in a good game region at the very time that the animals were likely -to stir abroad. It was a glaring, late-spring day, and in the hot sun of -mid-afternoon I had no idea that anything would be moving, and was not -keeping a very sharp lookout. After an hour or two’s steady tramping I -came into a long, narrow valley, bare of trees and brushwood, and -strolled along it, following a cattle trail that led up the middle. The -hills rose steeply into a ridge crest on each side, sheer clay shoulders -breaking the mat of buffalo-grass which elsewhere covered the sides of -the valley as well as the bottom. It was very hot and still, and I was -paying but little attention to my surroundings, when my eye caught a -sudden movement on the ridge crest to my right, and, dropping on one -knee as I wheeled around, I saw the head and neck of a prongbuck rising -above the crest. The animal was not above a hundred yards off, and stood -motionless as it stared at me. At the crack of the rifle the head -disappeared; but as I sprang clear of the smoke I saw a cloud of dust -rise on the other side of the ridge crest, and felt convinced that the -quarry had fallen. I was right. On climbing the ridge crest I found that -on the other side it sank abruptly in a low cliff of clay, and at the -foot of this, thirty feet under me, the prongbuck lay with its neck -broken. After dressing it I shouldered the body entire, thinking that I -should like to impress the new-comers by the sight of so tangible a -proof of my hunting prowess as whole prongbuck hanging up in the -cottonwoods by the house. As it was a well-grown buck the walk home -under the hot sun was one of genuine toil. - -The spot where I ran across this prongbuck was miles away from the -nearest plains, and it was very unusual to see one in such rough -country. In fact, the occurrence was wholly exceptional; just as I once -saw three bighorn rams, which usually keep to the roughest country, -deliberately crossing the river bottom below my ranch, and going for -half a mile through the thick cottonwood timber. Occasionally, however, -parties of prongbuck came down the creek bottoms to the river. Once I -struck a couple of young bucks in the bottom of a creek which led to the -Chimney Butte ranch-house, and stalked them without difficulty; for as -prongbuck make no effort to hide, if there is good cover even their -sharp eyes do not avail them. On another occasion several does and -fawns, which we did not molest, spent some time on what we called “the -corral bottom,” which was two or three miles above the ranch-house. In -the middle of this bottom we had built a corral for better convenience -in branding the calves when the round-up came near our ranch—as the -bottom on which the ranch-house stood was so thickly wooded as to make -it difficult to work cattle thereon. The does and fawns hung around the -corral bottom for some little time, and showed themselves very curious -and by no means shy. - -When I went from the ranch for a day’s prongbuck hunting of set purpose, -I always rode a stout horse and started by dawn. The prongbucks are -almost the only game that can be hunted as well during the heat of the -day as at any other time. They occasionally lie down for two or three -hours about noon in some hollow where they cannot be seen, but usually -there is no place where they are sure they can escape observation even -when resting; and when this is the case they choose a somewhat -conspicuous station and trust to their own powers of observation, -exactly as they do when feeding. There is therefore no necessity, as -with deer, of trying to strike them at dawn or dusk. The reason why I -left the ranch before sunrise and often came back long after dark was -because I had to ride at least a dozen miles to get out to the ground -and a dozen to get back, and if after industrious walking I failed at -first to find my game, I would often take the horse again and ride for -an hour or two to get into new country. Prongbuck water once a day, -often travelling great distances to or from some little pool or spring. -Of course, if possible, I liked to leave the horse by such a pool or -spring. On the great plains to which I used to make these excursions -there was plenty of water in early spring, and it would often run, here -and there, in the upper courses of some of the creeks—which, however, -usually contained running water only when there had been a cloudburst or -freshet. As the season wore on the country became drier and drier. Water -would remain only in an occasional deep hole, and few springs were left -in which there was so much as a trickle. In a strange country I could -not tell where these water-holes were, but in the neighborhood of the -ranch I of course knew where I was likely to find them. Often, however, -I was disappointed; and more than once after travelling many miles to -where I hoped to find water, there would be nothing but sun-cracked mud, -and the horse and I would have eighteen hours of thirst in consequence. -A ranch horse, however, is accustomed to such incidents, and of course -when a man spends half the time riding, it is merely a matter of slight -inconvenience to go so long without a drink. - -Nevertheless, if I did reach a spring, it turned the expedition into -pleasure instead of toil. Even in the hot weather the ride toward the -plains over the hills was very lovely. It was beautiful to see the red -dawn quicken from the first glimmering gray in the east, and then to -watch the crimson bars glint on the tops of the fantastically shaped -barren hills when the sun flamed, burning and splendid, above the -horizon. In the early morning the level beams threw into sharp relief -the strangely carved and channelled cliff walls of the buttes. There was -rarely a cloud to dim the serene blue of the sky. By the time the heat -had grown heavy I had usually reached the spring or pool, where I -unsaddled the horse, watered him, and picketed him out to graze. Then, -under the hot sun, I would stride off for the hunting proper. On such -occasions I never went to where the prairie was absolutely flat. There -were always gently rolling stretches broken by shallow watercourses, -slight divides, and even low mounds, sometimes topped with strangely -shaped masses of red scoria or with petrified trees. My object, of -course, was, either with my unaided eyes or with the help of my glasses, -to catch sight of the prongbucks before they saw me. I speedily found, -by the way, that if they were too plentiful this was almost impossible. -The more abundant deer are in a given locality the more apt one is to -run across them, and of course if the country is sufficiently broken, -the same is true of prongbucks; but where it is very flat and there are -many different bands in sight at the same time, it is practically -impossible to keep out of sight of all of them, and as they are also all -in sight of one another, if one flees the others are certain to take the -alarm. Under such circumstances I have usually found that the only -pronghorns I got were obtained by accident, so to speak; that is, by -some of them unexpectedly running my way, or by my happening to come -across them in some nook where I could not see them, or they me. - -Prongbucks are very fast runners indeed, even faster than deer. They -vary greatly in speed, however, precisely as is the case with deer; in -fact, I think that the average hunter makes altogether too little -account of this individual variation among different animals of the same -kind. Under the same conditions different deer and antelope vary in -speed and wariness, exactly as bears and cougars vary in cunning and -ferocity. When in perfect condition a full-grown buck antelope, from its -strength and size, is faster and more enduring than an old doe; but a -fat buck, before the rut has begun, will often be pulled down by a -couple of good greyhounds much more speedily than a flying yearling or -two-year-old doe. Under favorable circumstances, when the antelope was -jumped near by, I have seen one overhauled and seized by a first-class -greyhound; and, on the other hand, I have more than once seen a -pronghorn run away from a whole pack of just as good dogs. With a fair -start, and on good ground, a thoroughbred horse, even though handicapped -by the weight of a rider, will run down an antelope; but this is a feat -which should rarely be attempted, because such a race, even when carried -to a successful issue, is productive of the utmost distress to the -steed. - -Ordinary horses will sometimes run down an antelope which is slower than -the average. I once had on my ranch an under-sized old Indian pony named -White Eye, which, when it was fairly roused, showed a remarkable turn of -speed, and had great endurance. One morning on the round-up, when for -some reason we did not work the cattle, I actually ran down an antelope -in fair chase on this old pony. It was a nursing doe, and I came over -the crest of the hill, between forty and fifty yards away from it. As it -wheeled to start back, the old cayuse pricked up his ears with great -interest, and the moment I gave him a sign was after it like a shot. -Whether, being a cow-pony, he started to run it just as if it were a -calf or a yearling trying to break out of the herd, or whether he was -overcome by dim reminiscences of buffalo-hunting in his Indian youth, I -know not. At any rate, after the doe he went, and in a minute or two I -found I was drawing up to her. I had a revolver, but of course did not -wish to kill her, and so got my rope ready to try to take her alive. She -ran frantically, but the old pony, bending level to the ground, kept up -his racing lope and closed right in beside her. As I came up she fairly -bleated. An expert with the rope would have captured her with the utmost -ease; but I missed, sending the coil across her shoulders. She again -gave an agonized bleat, or bark, and wheeled around like a shot. The -cow-pony stopped almost, but not quite, as fast, and she got a slight -start, and it was some little time before I overhauled her again. When I -did I repeated the performance, and this time when she wheeled she -succeeded in getting on some ground where I could not follow, and I was -thrown out. - -Normally, a horseman without greyhounds can hope for nothing more than -to get within fair shooting range; and this only by taking advantage of -the prongbucks’ peculiarity of running straight ahead in the direction -in which they are pointed, when once they have settled into their pace. -Usually, as soon as they see a hunter they run straight away from him; -but sometimes they make their flight at an angle, and as they do not -like to change their course when once started, it is thus possible, with -a good horse, to cut them off from the point toward which they are -headed, and get a reasonably close shot. - -I have done a good deal of coursing with greyhounds at one time or -another, but always with scratch packs. There are a few ranchmen who -keep leashes of greyhounds of pure blood, bred and trained to antelope -coursing, and who do their coursing scientifically, carrying the dogs -out to the hunting-grounds in wagons and exercising every care in the -sport; but these men are rare. The average man who dwells where antelope -are sufficiently abundant to make coursing a success, simply follows the -pursuit at odd moments, with whatever long-legged dogs he and his -neighbors happen to have; and his methods of coursing are apt to be as -rough as his outfit. My own coursing was precisely of this character. At -different times I had on my ranch one or two high-classed greyhounds and -Scotch deerhounds, with which we coursed deer and antelope, as well as -jack-rabbits, foxes, and coyotes; and we usually had with them one or -two ordinary hounds, and various half-bred dogs. I must add, however, -that some of the latter were very good. I can recall in particular one -fawn-colored beast, a cross between a greyhound and a foxhound, which -ran nearly as fast as the former, though it occasionally yelped in -shrill tones. It could also trail well, and was thoroughly game; on one -occasion it ran down and killed a coyote single-handed. - -On going out with these dogs, I rarely chose a day when I was actually -in need of fresh meat. If this was the case, I usually went alone with -the rifle; but if one or two other men were at the ranch, and we wanted -a morning’s fun, we would often summon the dogs, mount our horses, and -go trooping out to the antelope-ground. As there was good deer-country -between the ranch bottom and the plains where we found the prongbuck, it -not infrequently happened that we had a chase after blacktail or -whitetail on the way. Moreover, when we got out to the ground, before -sighting antelope, it frequently happened that the dogs would jump a -jack-rabbit or a fox, and away the whole set would go after it, -streaking through the short grass, sometimes catching their prey in a -few hundred yards, and sometimes having to run a mile or so. In -consequence, by the time we reached the regular hunting-ground the dogs -were apt to have lost a good deal of their freshness. We would get them -in behind the horses and creep cautiously along, trying to find some -solitary prongbuck in a suitable place, where we could bring up the dogs -from behind a hillock and give them a fair start. Usually we failed to -get the dogs near enough for a good start; and in most cases their -chases after unwounded prongbuck resulted in the quarry running clean -away from them. Thus the odds were greatly against them; but, on the -other hand, we helped them wherever possible with the rifle. We usually -rode well scattered out, and if one of us put up an antelope, or had a -chance at one when driven by the dogs, he always fired, and the pack -were saved from the ill effects of total discouragement by so often -getting these wounded beasts. It was astonishing to see how fast an -antelope with a broken leg could run. If such a beast had a good start, -and especially if the dogs were tired, it would often lead them a hard -chase, and the dogs would be utterly exhausted after it had been killed; -so that we would have to let them lie where they were for a long time -before trying to lead them down to some stream-bed. If possible, we -carried water for them in canteens. - -There were red-letter days, however, on which our dogs fairly ran down -and killed unwounded antelope—days when the weather was cool, and when -it happened that we got our dogs out to the ground without their being -tired by previous runs, and found our quarry soon, and in favorable -places for slipping the hounds. I remember one such chase in particular. -We had at the time a mixed pack, in which there was only one dog of my -own, the others being contributed from various sources. It included two -greyhounds, a rough-coated deerhound, a foxhound, and the fawn-colored -cross-bred mentioned above. - -We rode out in the early morning, the dogs trotting behind us; and, -coming to a low tract of rolling hills, just at the edge of the great -prairie, we separated and rode over the crest of the nearest ridge. Just -as we topped it, a fine buck leaped up from a hollow a hundred yards -off, and turned to look at us for a moment. All the dogs were instantly -spinning toward him down the grassy slope. He apparently saw those at -the right, and, turning, raced away from us in a diagonal line, so that -the left-hand greyhound, which ran cunning and tried to cut him off, was -very soon almost alongside. He saw her, however—she was a very fast -bitch—just in time, and, wheeling, altered his course to the right. As -he reached the edge of the prairie, this alteration nearly brought him -in contact with the cross-bred, which had obtained a rather poor start, -on the extreme right of the line. Around went the buck again, evidently -panic-struck and puzzled to the last degree, and started straight off -across the prairie, the dogs literally at his heels, and we, urging our -horses with whip and spur, but a couple of hundred yards behind. For -half a mile the pace was tremendous, when one of the greyhounds made a -spring at his ear, but failing to make good his hold, was thrown off. -However, it halted the buck for a moment, and made him turn quarter -round, and in a second the deerhound had seized him by the flank and -thrown him, and all the dogs piled on top, never allowing him to rise. - -Later we again put up a buck not far off. At first it went slowly, and -the dogs hauled up on it; but when they got pretty close, it seemed to -see them, and letting itself out, went clean away from them almost -without effort. - -Once or twice we came upon bands of antelope, and the hounds would -immediately take after them. I was always rather sorry for this, -however, because the frightened animals, as is generally the case when -beasts are in a herd, seemed to impede one another, and the chase -usually ended by the dogs seizing a doe, for it was of course impossible -to direct them to any particular beast. - -It will be seen that with us coursing was a homely sport. Nevertheless -we had good fun, and I shall always have enjoyable memories of the rapid -gallops across the prairie, on the trail of a flying prongbuck. - -Usually my pronghorn hunting has been done while I have been off with a -wagon on a trip intended primarily for the chase, or else while -travelling for some other purpose. - -[Illustration: - - CAMPING ON THE ANTELOPE GROUNDS -] - -All life in the wilderness is so pleasant that the temptation is to -consider each particular variety, while one is enjoying it, as better -than any other. A canoe trip through the great forests, a trip with a -pack-train among the mountains, a trip on snowshoes through the silent, -mysterious fairyland of the woods in winter—each has its peculiar charm. -To some men the sunny monotony of the great plains is wearisome; -personally there are few things I have enjoyed more than journeying over -them where the game was at all plentiful. Sometimes I have gone off for -three or four days alone on horseback, with a slicker or oilskin coat -behind the saddle, and some salt and hardtack as my sole provisions. But -for comfort on a trip of any length it was always desirable to have a -wagon. My regular outfit consisted of a wagon and team driven by one man -who cooked, together with another man and four riding ponies, two of -which we rode, while the other two were driven loose or led behind the -wagon. While it is eminently desirable that a hunter should be able to -rough it, and should be entirely willing to put up with the bare minimum -of necessities, and to undergo great fatigue and hardship, it is yet not -at all necessary that he should refrain from comfort of a wholesome sort -when it is obtainable. By taking the wagon we could carry a tent to put -up if there was foul weather. I had a change of clothes to put on if I -was wet, two or three books to read—and nothing adds more to the -enjoyment of a hunting trip—as well as plenty of food; while having two -men made me entirely foot-loose as regards camp, so that I could hunt -whenever I pleased, and, if I came in tired, I simply rested, instead of -spending two or three hours in pitching camp, cooking, tethering horses, -and doing the innumerable other little things which in the aggregate -amount to so much. - -On such a trip, when we got into unknown country, it was of course very -necessary to stay near the wagon, especially if we had to hunt for -water. But if we knew the country at all, we would decide in the morning -about where the camp was to be made in the afternoon, and then I would -lope off on my own account, while the wagon lumbered slowly across the -rough prairie sward straight toward its destination. Sometimes I took -the spare man with me, and sometimes not. It was convenient to have him, -for there are continually small emergencies in which it is well to be -with a companion. For instance, if one jumps off for a sudden shot, -there is always a slight possibility that any but a thoroughly trained -horse will get frightened and gallop away. On some of my horses I could -absolutely depend, but there were others, and very good ones too, which -would on rare occasions fail me; and few things are more disheartening -than a long stern chase after one’s steed under such circumstances, with -the unpleasant possibility of seeing him leave the country entirely and -strike out for the ranch fifty or sixty miles distant. If there is a -companion with one, all danger of this is over. Moreover, in galloping -at full speed after the game it is impossible now and then to avoid a -tumble, as the horse may put his leg into a prairie-dog hole or badger -burrow; and on such occasions a companion may come in very handily. On -the other hand, there is so great a charm in absolute solitude, in the -wild, lonely freedom of the great plains, that often I would make some -excuse and go off entirely by myself. - -Such rides had a fascination of their own. Hour after hour the wiry pony -shuffled onward across the sea of short, matted grass. On every side the -plains stretched seemingly limitless. Sometimes there would be no object -to break the horizon; sometimes across a score of miles there would loom -through the clear air the fantastic outlines of a chain of buttes, -rising grim and barren. Occasionally there might be a slightly marked -watercourse, every drop of moisture long dried; and usually there would -not be as much as the smallest sage-brush anywhere in sight. As the sun -rose higher and higher the shadows of horse and rider shortened, and the -beams were reflected from the short, bleached blades until in the hot -air all the landscape afar off seemed to dance and waver. Often on such -trips days went by without our coming across another human being, and -the loneliness and vastness of the country seemed as unbroken as if the -old vanished days had returned—the days of the wild wilderness -wanderers, and the teeming myriads of game they followed, and the -scarcely wilder savages against whom they warred. - -Now and then prongbuck would appear, singly or in bands; and their sharp -bark of alarm or curiosity would come to me through the still, hot air -over great distances, as they stood with head erect looking at me, the -white patches on their rumps shining in the sun, and the bands and -markings on their heads and necks showing as if they were in livery. -Scan the country as carefully as I would, they were far more apt to see -me than I was them, and once they had seen me, it was normally hopeless -to expect to get them. But their strange freakishness of nature -frequently offsets the keenness of their senses. At least half of the -prongbucks which I shot were obtained, not by stalking, but by coming -across them purely through their own fault. Though the prairie seemed -level, there was really a constant series of undulations, shallow and of -varying width. Now and then as I topped some slight rise I would catch a -glimpse of a little band of pronghorns feeding, and would slip off my -horse before they could see me. A hasty determination as to where the -best chance of approaching them lay would be followed by a half-hour’s -laborious crawl, a good part of the time flat on my face. They might -discover me when I was still too far for a shot; or by taking advantage -of every little inequality I might get within long range before they got -a glimpse of me, and then in a reasonable proportion of cases I would -bag my buck. At other times the buck would come to me. Perhaps one would -suddenly appear over a divide himself, and his curiosity would cause him -to stand motionless long enough to give me a shot; while on other -occasions I have known one which was out of range to linger around, -shifting his position as I shifted mine, until by some sudden gallop or -twist I was able to get close enough to empty my magazine at him. - -When the shadows had lengthened, but before any coolness had come into -the air, I would head for the appointed camping-place. Sometimes this -would be on the brink of some desolate little pool under a low, treeless -butte, or out on the open prairie where the only wood was what we had -brought with us. At other times I would find the wagon drawn up on the -edge of some shrunken plains river, under a line of great cottonwoods -with splintered branches and glossy leaves that rustled all day long. -Such a camp was always comfortable, for there was an abundance of wood -for the fire, plenty of water, and thick feed in which the horses -grazed—one or two being picketed and the others feeding loose until -night came on. If I had killed a prongbuck, steaks were speedily -sizzling in the frying-pan over the hot coals. If I had failed to get -anything, I would often walk a mile or two down or up the river to see -if I could not kill a couple of prairie-chickens or ducks. If the -evening was at all cool, we built a fire as darkness fell, and sat -around it, while the leaping flames lit up the trunks of the cottonwoods -and gleamed on the pools of water in the half-dry river bed. Then I -would wrap myself in my blanket and lie looking up at the brilliant -stars until I fell asleep. - -In both 1893 and 1894 I made trips to a vast tract of rolling prairie -land, some fifty miles from my ranch, where I had for many years enjoyed -the keen pleasure of hunting the prongbuck. In 1893 the prong-horned -bands were as plentiful in this district as I have ever seen them -anywhere. Lambert was with me; and in a week’s trip, including the -journey out and back, we easily shot all the antelope we felt we had any -right to kill; for we only shot to get meat, or an unusually fine head. -Lambert did most of the shooting; and I have never seen a professional -hunter do better in stalking antelope on the open prairie. I myself -fired at only two antelope, both of which had already been missed. In -each case a hard run and much firing at long ranges, together with in -one case some skilful manœuvring, got me my game; yet one buck cost ten -cartridges and the other eight. In 1894 I had exactly the reverse -experience. I killed five antelope for thirty-six shots, but each one -that I killed was killed with the first bullet, and in not one case -where I missed the first time did I hit with any subsequent shot. These -five antelope were killed at an average distance of about 150 yards. -Those that I missed were, of course, much farther off on an average, and -I usually emptied my magazine at each. The number of cartridges spent -would seem extraordinary to a tyro; and an unusually skilful shot, or -else a very timid shot who fears to take risks, will of course make a -better showing per head killed; but I doubt if men with experience in -antelope hunting, who keep an accurate account of the cartridges they -expend, will see anything much out of the way in the performance. - -During the years I have hunted in the West I have always, where -possible, kept a record of the number of cartridges expended for every -head of game killed, and of the distances at which it was shot. I have -found that with bison, bear, moose, elk, caribou, bighorn and white -goat, where the animals shot at were mostly of large size and usually -stationary, and where the mountainous or wooded country gave chance for -a close approach, the average distance at which I have killed the game -has been eighty yards, and the average number of cartridges expended per -head slain, three; one of these representing the death-shot, and the -others standing either for misses outright, of which there were not -many, or else for wounding game which escaped, or which I afterward -overtook, or for stopping cripples or charging beasts. I have killed but -two peccaries, using but one cartridge for each; they were close up. My -experiences with cougar have already been narrated. At wolves and -coyotes I have generally had to take running shots at very long range, -and I have shot but two—one of each—for fifty cartridges. Blacktail deer -I have generally shot at about ninety yards, at an expenditure of about -four cartridges apiece. Whitetail I have killed at shorter range; but -the shots were generally running, often taken under difficult -circumstances, so that my expenditure of cartridges was rather larger. -Antelope, on the other hand, I have on the average shot at a little -short of 150 yards, and they have cost me about nine cartridges apiece. -This, of course, as I have explained above, does not mean that I have -missed eight out of nine antelope, for often the entire nine cartridges -would be spent at an antelope which I eventually got. It merely means -that, counting all the shots of every description fired at antelope, I -had one head to show for each nine cartridges expended. - -Thus, the first antelope I shot in 1893 cost me ten cartridges, of which -three hit him, while the seven that missed were fired at over 400 yards’ -distance while he was running. We saw him while we were with the wagon. -As we had many miles to go before sunset, we cared nothing about -frightening other game, and, as we had no fresh meat, it was worth while -to take some chances to procure it. When I first fired, the prongbuck -had already been shot at and was in full flight. He was beyond all -reasonable range, but some of our bullets went over him and he began to -turn. By running to one side I got a shot at him at a little over 400 -paces, as he slowed to a walk, bewildered by the firing, and the bullet -broke his hip. I missed him two or three times as he plunged off, and -then by hard running down a watercourse got a shot at 180 paces and -broke his shoulder, and broke his neck with another bullet when I came -up. - -This one was shot while going out to the hunting-ground. While there -Lambert killed four others. I did not fire again until on our return, -when I killed another buck one day while we were riding with the wagon. -The day was gray and overcast. There were slight flurries of snow, and -the cold wind chilled us as it blew across the endless reaches of -sad-colored prairie. Behind us loomed Sentinel Butte, and all around the -rolling surface was broken by chains of hills, by patches of bad lands, -or by isolated, saddle-shaped mounds. The ranch wagon jolted over the -uneven sward, and plunged in and out of the dry beds of the occasional -water courses; for we were following no road, but merely striking -northward across the prairie toward the P. K. ranch. We went at a good -pace, for the afternoon was bleak, the wagon was lightly loaded, and the -Sheriff of the county, whose deputy I had been, and who was serving for -the nonce as our teamster and cook, kept the two gaunt, wild-looking -horses trotting steadily. Lambert and I rode to one side on our unkempt -cow-ponies, our rifles slung across the saddle bows. - -Our stock of fresh meat was getting low and we were anxious to shoot -something; but in the early hours of the afternoon we saw no game. Small -parties of horned larks ran along the ground ahead of the wagon, -twittering plaintively as they rose, and now and then flocks of -long-spurs flew hither and thither; but of larger life we saw nothing, -save occasional bands of range horses. The drought had been severe and -we were far from the river, so that we saw no horned stock. Horses can -travel much farther to water than cattle, and, when the springs dry up, -they stay much farther out on the prairie. - -At last we did see a band of four antelope, lying in the middle of a -wide plain, but they saw us before we saw them, and the ground was so -barren of cover that it was impossible to get near them. Moreover, they -were very shy and ran almost as soon as we got our eyes on them. For an -hour or two after this we jogged along without seeing anything, while -the gray clouds piled up in the west and the afternoon began to darken; -then, just after passing Saddle Butte, we struck a rough prairie road, -which we knew led to the P. K. ranch—a road very faint in places, while -in others the wheels had sunk deep in the ground and made long, parallel -ruts. - -Almost immediately after striking this road, on topping a small rise, we -discovered a young prongbuck standing off a couple of hundred yards to -one side, gazing at the wagon with that absorbed curiosity which in this -game so often conquers its extreme wariness and timidity, to a certain -extent offsetting the advantage conferred upon it by its marvellous -vision. The little antelope stood broadside on, gazing at us out of its -great bulging eyes, the sharply contrasted browns and whites of its coat -showing plainly. Lambert and I leaped off our horses immediately, and I -knelt and pulled trigger; but the cartridge snapped, and the little -buck, wheeling round, cantered off, the white hairs on its rump standing -erect. There was a strong cross-wind, almost a gale, blowing, and -Lambert’s bullet went just behind him; off he went at a canter, which -changed to a breakneck gallop, as we again fired; and he went out of -sight unharmed, over the crest of the rising ground in front. We ran -after him as hard as we could pelt up the hill, into a slight valley, -and then up another rise, and again got a glimpse of him standing, but -this time farther off than before; and again our shots went wild. - -However, the antelope changed its racing gallop to a canter while still -in sight, going slower and slower, and, what was rather curious, it did -not seem much frightened. We were naturally a good deal chagrined at our -shooting and wished to retrieve ourselves, if possible; so we ran back -to the wagon, got our horses and rode after the buck. He had continued -his flight in a straight line, gradually slackening his pace, and a -mile’s brisk gallop enabled us to catch a glimpse of him, far ahead and -merely walking. The wind was bad, and we decided to sweep off and try to -circle round ahead of him. Accordingly, we dropped back, turned into a -slight hollow to the right, and galloped hard until we came to the foot -of a series of low buttes, when we turned more to the left; and, when we -judged that we were about across the antelope’s line of march, leaped -from our horses, threw the reins over their heads, and left them -standing, while we stole up the nearest rise; and, when close to the -top, took off our caps and pushed ourselves forward, flat on our faces -to peep over. We had judged the distance well, for we saw the antelope -at once, now stopping to graze. Drawing back, we ran along some little -distance nearer, then drew up over the same rise. He was only about 125 -yards off, and this time there was no excuse for my failing to get him; -but fail I did, and away the buck raced again, with both of us shooting. -My first two shots were misses, but I kept correcting my aim and holding -farther in front of the flying beast. My last shot was taken just as the -antelope reached the edge of the broken country, in which he would have -been safe; and almost as I pulled the trigger I had the satisfaction of -seeing him pitch forward and, after turning a complete somerset, lie -motionless. I had broken his neck. He had cost us a good many -cartridges, and, though my last shot was well aimed, there was doubtless -considerable chance in my hitting him, while there was no excuse at all -for at least one of my previous misses. Nevertheless, all old hunters -know that there is no other kind of shooting in which so many cartridges -are expended for every head of game bagged. - -As we knelt down to butcher the antelope, the clouds broke and the rain -fell. Hastily we took off the saddle and hams, and, packing them behind -us on our horses, loped to the wagon in the teeth of the cold storm. -When we overtook it, after some sharp riding, we threw in the meat, and -not very much later, when the day was growing dusky, caught sight of the -group of low ranch buildings toward which we had been headed. We were -received with warm hospitality, as one always is in a ranch country. We -dried our streaming clothes inside the warm ranch-house and had a good -supper, and that night we rolled up in our blankets and tarpaulins, and -slept soundly in the lee of a big haystack. The ranch-house stood in the -winding bottom of a creek; the flanking hills were covered with stunted -cedar, while dwarf cottonwood and box-elder grew by the pools in the -half-dried creek bed. - -Next morning we had risen by dawn. The storm was over, and it was clear -and cold. Before sunrise we had started. We were only some thirty miles -away from my ranch, and I directed the Sheriff how to go there, by -striking east until he came to the main divide, and then following that -down till he got past a certain big plateau, when a turn to the right -down any of the coulees would bring him into the river bottom near the -ranch-house. We wished ourselves to ride off to one side and try to pick -up another antelope. However, the Sheriff took the wrong turn after -getting to the divide, and struck the river bottom some fifteen miles -out of his way, so that we reached the ranch a good many hours before he -did. - -When we left the wagon we galloped straight across country, looking out -from the divide across the great rolling landscape, every feature -standing clear through the frosty air. Hour after hour we paced and -loped on and on over the grassy seas in the glorious morning. Once we -stopped, and I held the horses while Lambert stalked and shot a fine -prongbuck; then we tied his head and hams to our saddles and again -pressed forward along the divide. We had hoped to get lunch at a spring -that I knew of some twelve miles from my ranch, but when we reached it -we found it dry and went on without halting. Early in the afternoon we -came out on the broad, tree-clad bottom on which the ranch-house stands, -and, threading our way along the cattle trails soon drew up in front of -the gray empty buildings. - - -Just as we were leaving the hunting-grounds on this trip, after having -killed all the game we felt we had a right to kill, we encountered bands -of Sioux Indians from the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River reservations -coming in to hunt, and I at once felt that the chances for much future -sport in that particular district were small. Indians are not good -shots, but they hunt in large numbers, killing everything, does, fawns -and bucks alike, and they follow the wounded animals with the utmost -perseverance, so that they cause much destruction of game. - -Accordingly, in 1894, when I started for these same grounds, it was with -some misgivings; but I had time only to make a few days’ hunt, and I -knew of no other accessible grounds where prongbuck were plentiful. My -foreman was with me, and, as usual, we took the ranch wagon, driven this -time by a cowboy who had just come up over the trail with cattle from -Colorado. On reaching our happy hunting-grounds of the previous season, -I found my fears sadly verified; and one unforeseen circumstance, also -told against me. Not only had the Indians made a great killing of -antelope the season before, but in the spring one or two sheep men had -moved into the country. We found that the big flocks had been moving -from one spring pool to another, eating the pasturage bare, while the -shepherds whom we met—wild-looking men on rough horses, each accompanied -by a pair of furtive sheep dogs—had taken every opportunity to get a -shot at antelope, so as to provide themselves with fresh meat. Two days -of fruitless hunting in this sheep-ridden region was sufficient to show -that the antelope were too scarce and shy to give us hope for sport, and -we shifted quarters, a long day’s journey, to the head of another creek; -and we had to go to yet another before we found much game. As so often -happens on such a trip, when we started to have bad luck we had plenty. -One night two of the three saddle horses stampeded and went straight as -the crow flies back to the home range, so that we did not get them until -on our return from the trip. On another occasion the team succeeded in -breaking the wagon pole; and as there was an entire absence of wood -where we were at the time, we had to make a splice for it with the two -tent poles and the picket ropes. Nevertheless, it was very enjoyable out -on the great grassy plains. Although we had a tent with us, I always -slept in the open in my buffalo bag, with the tarpaulin to pull over me -if it rained. On each night before going to sleep, I lay for many -minutes gazing at the stars above, or watching the rising of the red -moon, which was just at or past the full. - -We had plenty of fresh meat—prairie fowl and young sage fowl at first, -and antelope venison afterward. We camped by little pools, generally -getting fair water; and from the camps where there was plenty of wood we -took enough to build the fires at those where there was none. The nights -were frosty, and the days cool and pleasant, and from sunrise to sunset -we were off riding or walking among the low hills and over the uplands, -so that we slept well and ate well, and felt the beat of hardy life in -our veins. - -Much of the time we were on a high divide between two creek systems, -from which we could see the great landmarks of all the regions -roundabout, Sentinel Butte, Square Butte and Middle Butte, far to the -north and east of us. Nothing could be more lonely and nothing more -beautiful than the view at nightfall across the prairies to these huge -hill masses, when the lengthening shadows had at last merged into one -and the faint afterglow of the red sunset filled the west. The endless -waves of rolling prairie, sweeping, vast and dim, to the feet of the -great hills, grew purple as the evening darkened, and the buttes loomed -into vague, mysterious beauty as their sharp outlines softened in the -twilight. - -Even when we got out of reach of the sheep men we never found antelope -very plentiful, and they were shy, and the country was flat, so that the -stalking was extremely difficult; yet I had pretty good sport. The first -animal I killed was a doe, shot for meat, because I had twice failed to -get bucks at which I emptied my magazine at long range, and we were all -feeling hungry for venison. After that I killed nothing but bucks. Of -the five antelope killed, one I got by a headlong gallop to cut off his -line of flight. As sometimes happens with this queer, erratic animal, -when the buck saw that I was trying to cut off his flight he simply -raced ahead just as hard as he knew how, and, as my pony was not fast, -he got to the little pass for which he was headed 200 yards ahead of me. -I then jumped off, and his curiosity made him commit the fatal mistake -of halting for a moment to look round at me. He was standing end on, and -offered a very small mark at 200 yards; but I made a good line shot, -and, though I held a trifle too high, I hit him in the head, and down he -came. Another buck I shot from under the wagon early one morning as he -was passing just beyond the picketed horses. I have several times shot -antelope which unexpectedly came into camp in this fashion. The other -three I got after much manœuvring and long, tedious stalks. - -In some of the stalks, after infinite labor, and perhaps after crawling -on all-fours for an hour, or pulling myself flat on my face among some -small sage-brush for ten or fifteen minutes, the game took alarm and -went off. Too often, also, when I finally did get a shot, it was under -such circumstances that I missed. Sometimes the game was too far; -sometimes it had taken alarm and was already in motion; sometimes the -trouble could only be ascribed to lack of straight powder, and I was -covered with shame as with a garment. Once in the afternoon I had to -spend so much time waiting for the antelope to get into a favorable -place that, when I got up close, I found the light already so bad that -my front sight glimmered indistinctly, and the bullet went wild. Another -time I met with one of those misadventures which are especially -irritating. It was at midday, and I made out at a long distance a band -of antelope lying for their noon rest in a slight hollow. A careful -stalk brought me up within fifty yards of them. I was crawling flat on -my face, for the crest of the hillock sloped so gently that this was the -only way to get near them. At last, peering through the grass, I saw the -head of a doe. In a moment she saw me and jumped to her feet, and up -stood the whole band, including the buck. I immediately tried to draw a -bead on the latter, and to my horror found that, lying flat as I was, -and leaning on my elbows, I could not bring the rifle above the tall -shaking grass, and was utterly unable to get a sight. In another second -away tore all the antelope. I jumped to my feet, took a snap shot at the -buck as he raced round a low-cut bank and missed, and then walked -drearily home, chewing the cud of my ill-luck. Yet again in more than -one instance, after making a good stalk upon a band seen at some -distance, I found it contained only does and fawns, and would not shoot -at them. - -Three times, however, the stalk was successful. Twice I was out alone; -the other time my foreman was with me, and held my horse while I -manœuvred hither and thither, and finally succeeded in getting into -range. In both the first instances I got a standing shot, but on this -last occasion, when my foreman was with me, two of the watchful does -which were in the band saw me before I could get a shot at the old buck. -I was creeping up a low washout, and, by ducking hastily down again and -running back and up a side coulee, I managed to get within long range of -the band as they cantered off, not yet thoroughly alarmed. The buck was -behind, and I held just ahead of him. He plunged to the shot, but went -off over the hill-crest. When I had panted up to the ridge I found him -dead just beyond. - -One of the antelope I killed while I was out on foot toward nightfall, a -couple of miles from the wagon. I saw the prongbuck quite half a mile -off, and though I dropped at once I was uncertain whether he had seen -me. He was in a little hollow or valley. A long, smoothly sloping -plateau led up to one edge of it. Across this plateau I crawled, and -when I thought I was near the run I ventured slowly to look up, and -almost immediately saw vaguely through the tops of the long grasses what -I took to be the head and horns of the buck, looking in my direction. -There was no use in going back, and I dropped flat on my face again and -crawled another hundred yards, until it was evident that I was on the -rise from which the plateau sank into the shallow valley beyond. Raising -my head inch by inch, I caught sight of the object toward which I had -been crawling, and after a moment’s hesitation recognized it as a dead -sunflower, the stalks and blossoms so arranged as to be in a V shape. -Completely puzzled, I started to sit up, when by sheer good luck I -caught sight of the real prongbuck, still feeding, some three hundred -yards off, and evidently unaware of my presence. It was feeding toward a -slight hill to my left. I crept off until behind this, and then walked -up until I was in line with a big bunch of weeds on its shoulder. -Crawling on all-fours to the weeds, I peeped through and saw the -prongbuck still slowly feeding my way. When he was but seventy yards -off, I sat up and shot him; and trudged back to the wagon, carrying the -saddle and hams. - -In packing an antelope or deer behind the saddle, I cut slashes through -the sinews of the legs just above the joints; then I put the buck behind -the saddle, run the picket rope from the horn of the saddle, under the -belly of the horse, through the slashes in the legs on the other side, -bring the end back, swaying well down on it, and fasten it to the horn; -then I repeat the same feat for the other side. Packed in this way, the -carcass always rides steady, and cannot shake loose, no matter what -antics the horse may perform. - - -In the fall of 1896 I spent a fortnight on the range with the ranch -wagon. I was using for the first time one of the new small calibre, -smokeless-powder rifles, with the usual soft-nosed bullet. While -travelling to and fro across the range we usually moved camp each day, -not putting up the tent at all during the trip; but at one spot we spent -three nights. It was in a creek bottom, bounded on either side by rows -of grassy hills, beyond which stretched the rolling prairie. The creek -bed, which at this season was of course dry in most places, wound in -S-shaped curves, with here and there a pool and here and there a fringe -of stunted wind-beaten timber. We were camped near a little grove of -ash, box-elder, and willow, which gave us shade at noonday; and there -were two or three pools of good water in the creek bed—one so deep that -I made it my swimming-bath. - -The first day that I was able to make a hunt I rode out with my foreman, -Sylvane Ferris. I was mounted on Muley. Twelve years before, when Muley -was my favorite cutting pony on the round-up, he never seemed to tire or -lose his dash, but Muley was now sixteen years old, and on ordinary -occasions he liked to go as soberly as possible; yet the good old pony -still had the fire latent in his blood, and at the sight of game—or, -indeed, of cattle or horses—he seemed to regain for the time being all -the headlong courage of his vigorous and supple youth. - -On the morning in question it was two or three hours before Sylvane and -I saw any game. Our two ponies went steadily forward at a single-foot or -shack, as the cow-punchers term what Easterners call a “fox trot.” Most -of the time we were passing over immense grassy flats, where the mat of -short curled blades lay brown and parched under the bright sunlight. -Occasionally we came to ranges of low barren hills, which sent off -gently rounded spurs into the plain. - -It was on one of these ranges that we first saw our game. As we were -travelling along the divide we spied eight antelope far ahead of us. -They saw us as soon as we saw them, and the chance of getting to them -seemed small; but it was worth an effort, for by humoring them when they -started, so as to let them wheel and zigzag before they became really -frightened, and then, when they had settled into their run, by galloping -toward them at an angle oblique to their line of flight, there was -always some little chance of getting a shot. Sylvane was on a light -buckskin horse, and I left him on the ridge crest to occupy their -attention while I cantered off to one side. The pronghorns became uneasy -as I galloped away, and ran off the ridge crest in a line nearly -parallel to mine. They did not go very fast, and I held in Muley, who -was all on fire at the sight of the game. After crossing two or three -spurs, the antelope going at half speed, they found I had come closer to -them, and turning, they ran up one of the valleys between two spurs. Now -was my chance, and wheeling at right angles to my former course, I -galloped Muley as hard as I knew how up the valley nearest and parallel -to where the antelope had gone. The good old fellow ran like a -quarter-horse, and when we were almost at the main ridge crest I leaped -off, and ran ahead with my rifle at the ready, crouching down as I came -to the sky-line. Usually on such occasions I find that the antelope have -gone on, and merely catch a glimpse of them half a mile distant, but on -this occasion everything went right. The band had just reached the ridge -crest about 220 yards from me across the head of the valley, and had -halted for a moment to look around. They were starting as I raised my -rifle, but the trajectory is very flat with these small-bore -smokeless-powder weapons, and taking a coarse front sight I fired at a -young buck which was broadside to me. There was no smoke, and as the -band raced away I saw him sink backward, the ball having broken his -hips. - -We packed him bodily behind Sylvane on the buckskin and continued our -ride, as there was no fresh meat in camp, and we wished to bring in a -couple of bucks if possible. For two or three hours we saw nothing. The -unshod feet of the horses made hardly any noise on the stretches of -sun-cured grass, but now and then we passed through patches of thin -weeds, their dry stalks rattling curiously, making a sound like that of -a rattlesnake. At last, coming over a gentle rise of ground, we spied -two more prongbucks, half a mile ahead of us and to our right. - -Again there seemed small chance of bagging our quarry, but again fortune -favored us. I at once cantered Muley ahead, not toward them, but so as -to pass them well on one side. After some hesitation they started, not -straight away, but at an angle to my own course. For some moments I kept -at a hand gallop, until they got thoroughly settled in their line of -flight; then I touched Muley, and he went as hard as he knew how. -Immediately the two panic-stricken and foolish beasts seemed to feel -that I was cutting off their line of retreat, and raced forward at mad -speed. They went much faster than I did, but I had the shorter course, -and when they crossed me they were not fifty yards ahead—by which time I -had come nearly a mile. At the pull of the rein Muley stopped short, -like the trained cow-pony he is; I leaped off, and held well ahead of -the rearmost and largest buck. At the crack of the little rifle down he -went with his neck broken. In a minute or two he was packed behind me on -Muley, and we bent our steps toward camp. - -During the remainder of my trip we were never out of fresh meat, for I -shot three other bucks—one after a smart chase on horseback, and the -other two after careful stalks; and I missed two running shots. - -The game being both scarce and shy, I had to exercise much care, and -after sighting a band I would sometimes have to wait and crawl round for -two or three hours before they would get into a position where I had any -chance of approaching. Even then they were more apt to see me and go off -than I was to get near them. - -Antelope are the only game that can be hunted as well at noonday as in -the morning or evening, for their times for sleeping and feeding are -irregular. They never seek shelter from the sun, and when they lie down -for a noonday nap they are apt to choose a hollow, so as to be out of -the wind; in consequence, if the band is seen at all at this time, it is -easier to approach them than when they are up and feeding. They -sometimes come down to water in the middle of the day, sometimes in the -morning or evening. On this trip I came across bands feeding and resting -at almost every hour of the day. They seemed usually to rest for a -couple of hours, then began feeding again. - -The last shot I got was when I was out with Joe Ferris, in whose company -I had killed my first buffalo, just thirteen years before, and not very -far from this same spot. We had seen two or three bands that morning, -and in each case, after a couple of hours of useless effort, I failed to -get near enough. At last, toward midday, after riding and tramping over -a vast extent of broken sun-scorched country, we got within range of a -small band lying down in a little cup-shaped hollow in the middle of a -great flat. I did not have a close shot, for they were running about 180 -yards off. The buck was rearmost, and at him I aimed; the bullet struck -him in the flank, coming out of the opposite shoulder, and he fell in -his next bound. As we stood over him, Joe shook his head, and said, “I -guess that little rifle is the ace;” and I told him I guessed so too. - - - - - CHAPTER V - A SHOT AT A MOUNTAIN SHEEP - - -In the fall of 1893 I was camped on the Little Missouri, some ten miles -below my ranch. The bottoms were broad and grassy, and were walled in by -curving rows of high, steep bluffs. Back of them lay a mass of broken -country, in many places almost impassable for horses. The wagon was -drawn up on the edge of the fringe of tall cottonwoods which stretched -along the brink of the shrunken river. The weather had grown cold, and -at night the frost gathered thickly on our sleeping-bags. Great flocks -of sandhill cranes passed overhead from time to time, the air resounding -with their strange, musical, guttural clangor. - -For several days we had hunted perseveringly, but without success, -through the broken country. We had come across tracks of mountain sheep, -but not the animals themselves, and the few blacktail which we had seen -had seen us first and escaped before we could get within shot. The only -thing killed had been a young whitetail, which Lambert, who was with me, -had knocked over by a very pretty shot as we were riding through a long, -heavily-timbered bottom. Four men in stalwart health and taking much -outdoor exercise have large appetites, and the flesh of the whitetail -was almost gone. - -One evening Lambert and I hunted nearly to the head of one of the creeks -which opened close to our camp, and, in turning to descend what we -thought was one of the side coulees leading into it, we contrived to get -over the divide into the coulees of an entirely different creek system, -and did not discover our error until it was too late to remedy it. We -struck the river about nightfall, and were not quite sure where, and had -six miles’ tramp in the dark along the sandy river bed and through the -dense timber bottoms, wading the stream a dozen times before we finally -struck camp, tired and hungry, and able to appreciate to the full the -stew of hot venison and potatoes, and afterward the comfort of our -buffalo and caribou hide sleeping-bags. The next morning the Sheriff’s -remark of “Look alive, you fellows, if you want any breakfast,” awoke -the other members of the party shortly after dawn. It was bitterly cold -as we scrambled out of our bedding, and, after a hasty wash, huddled -around the fire, where the venison was sizzling and the coffee-pot -boiling, while the bread was kept warm in the Dutch oven. About a third -of a mile away to the west the bluffs, which rose abruptly from the -river bottom, were crowned by a high plateau, where the grass was so -good that overnight the horses had been led up and picketed on it, and -the man who had led them up had stated the previous evening that he had -seen what he took to be fresh footprints of a mountain sheep crossing -the surface of a bluff fronting our camp. From the footprints it -appeared that the animal had been there since the camp was pitched. The -face of the bluff on this side was very sheer, the path by which the -horses scrambled to the top being around a shoulder and out of sight of -camp. - -[Illustration: - - RANCH WAGON RETURNING FROM HUNT -] - -While sitting close around the fire finishing breakfast, and just as the -first level sunbeams struck the top of the plateau, we saw on this cliff -crest something moving, and at first supposed it to be one of the horses -which had broken loose from its picket pin. Soon the thing, whatever it -was, raised its head, and we were all on our feet in a moment, -exclaiming that it was a deer or a sheep. It was feeding in plain sight -of us only about a third of a mile distant, and the horses, as I -afterward found, were but a few rods beyond it on the plateau. The -instant I realized that it was game of some kind I seized my rifle, -buckled on my cartridge-belt, and slunk off toward the river bed. As -soon as I was under the protection of the line of cottonwoods, I trotted -briskly toward the cliff, and when I got up to where it impinged on the -river I ran a little to the left, and, selecting what I deemed to be a -favorable place, began to make the ascent. The animal was on a grassy -bench, some eight or ten feet below the crest, when I last saw it; but -it was evidently moving hither and thither, sometimes on this bench and -sometimes on the crest itself, cropping the short grass and browsing on -the young shrubs. The cliff was divided by several shoulders or ridges, -there being hollows like vertical gullies between them, and up one of -these I scrambled, using the utmost caution not to dislodge earth or -stones. Finally I reached the bench just below the sky-line, and then, -turning to the left, wriggled cautiously along it, hat in hand. The -cliff was so steep and bulged so in the middle, and, moreover, the -shoulders or projecting ridges in the surface spoken of above were so -pronounced, that I knew it was out of the question for the animal to -have seen me, but I was afraid it might have heard me. The air was -absolutely still, and so I had no fear of its sharp nose. Twice in -succession I peered with the utmost caution around shoulders of the -cliff, merely to see nothing beyond save another shoulder some forty or -fifty yards distant. Then I crept up to the edge and looked over the -level plateau. Nothing was in sight excepting the horses, and these were -close up to me, and, of course, they all raised their heads to look. I -nervously turned half round, sure that if the animal, whatever it was, -was in sight, it would promptly take the alarm. However, by good luck, -it appeared that at this time it was below the crest on the terrace or -bench already mentioned, and, on creeping to the next shoulder, I at -last saw it—a yearling mountain sheep—walking slowly away from me, and -evidently utterly unsuspicious of any danger. I straightened up, -bringing my rifle to my shoulder, and as it wheeled I fired, and the -sheep made two or three blind jumps in my direction. So close was I to -the camp, and so still was the cold morning, that I distinctly heard one -of the three men, who had remained clustered about the fire eagerly -watching my movements, call, “By George, he’s missed! I saw the bullet -strike the cliff.” I had fired behind the shoulders, and the bullet, -going through, had buried itself in the bluff beyond. The wound was -almost instantaneously fatal, and the sheep, after striving in vain to -keep its balance, fell heels over head down a crevice, where it jammed. -I descended, released the carcass, and pitched it on ahead of me, only -to have it jam again near the foot of the cliff. Before I got it loose I -was joined by my three companions, who had been running headlong toward -me through the brush ever since the time they had seen the animal fall. - -I never obtained another sheep under circumstances which seemed to me -quite so remarkable as these; for sheep are, on the whole, the wariest -of game. Nevertheless, with all game there is an immense amount of -chance in the chase, and it is perhaps not wholly uncharacteristic of a -hunter’s luck that, after having hunted faithfully in vain and with much -hard labor for several days through a good sheep country, we should at -last have obtained one within sight and earshot of camp. Incidentally I -may mention that I have never tasted better mutton, or meat of any kind, -than that furnished by this tender yearling. - -The nomenclature and exact specific relationships of American sheep, -deer and antelope offer difficulties not only to the hunter but to the -naturalist. As regards the nomenclature, we share the trouble -encountered by all peoples of European descent who have gone into -strange lands. The incomers are almost invariably men who are not -accustomed to scientific precision of expression. Like other people, -they do not like to invent names if they can by any possibility make use -of those already in existence, and so in a large number of cases they -call the new birds and animals by names applied to entirely different -birds and animals of the Old World to which, in the eyes of the -settlers, they bear some resemblance. In South America the Spaniards, -for instance, christened “lion” and “tiger” the great cats which are -properly known as cougar and jaguar. In South Africa the Dutch settlers, -who came from a land where all big game had long been exterminated, gave -fairly grotesque names to the great antelopes, calling them after the -European elk, stag, and chamois. The French did but little better in -Canada. Even in Ceylon the English, although belonging for the most part -to the educated classes, did no better than the ordinary pioneer -settlers, miscalling the sambur stag an elk, and the leopard a cheetah. -Our own pioneers behaved in the same way. Hence it is that we have no -distinctive name at all for the group of peculiarly American game birds -of which the bobwhite is the typical representative; and that, when we -could not use the words quail, partridge, or pheasant, we went for our -terminology to the barn-yard, and called our fine grouse, fool-hens, -sage-hens, and prairie-chickens. The bear and wolf our people recognized -at once. The bison they called a buffalo, which was no worse than the -way in which in Europe the Old World bison was called an aurochs. The -American true elk and reindeer were rechristened moose and -caribou—excellent names, by the way, derived from the Indian. The huge -stag was called an elk. The extraordinary antelope of the high Western -peaks was christened the white goat; not unnaturally, as it has a most -goatlike look. The prongbuck of the plains, an animal standing entirely -alone among ruminants, was simply called antelope. Even when we invented -names for ourselves, we applied them loosely. The ordinary deer is -sometimes known as the red deer, sometimes as the Virginia deer, and -sometimes as the whitetail deer—the last being by far the best and most -distinctive term. - -In the present condition of zoological research it is not possible to -state accurately how many “species” of deer and sheep there are in North -America, both because mammalogists have not at hand a sufficient amount -of material in the way of large series of specimens from different -localities, and because they are not agreed among themselves as to the -value of “species,” or indeed as to exactly what is denoted by the term. -Of course, if we had a complete series of specimens of extinct and -fossil deer before us, there would be a perfect intergradation among all -the existing forms through their long-vanished ancestral types, as the -existing gaps have been created by the extinction and transformation of -those former types. Where the gap is very broad and well marked no -difficulty exists in using terms which shall express the difference. -Thus the gap separating the moose, the caribou, and the wapiti from one -another, and from the smaller American deer, is so wide, and there is so -complete a lack of transitional forms, that the differences among them -are expressed by naturalists by the use of different generic terms. The -gap between the whitetail and the different forms of blacktail, though -much less, is also clearly marked. But when we come to consider the -blacktail among themselves, we find two very distinct types which yet -show a certain tendency to intergrade; and with the whitetail very wide -differences exist, even in the United States, both individually among -the deer of certain localities, and also as between all the deer of one -locality when compared with all the deer of another. Our present -knowledge of the various forms hardly justifies us in dogmatizing as to -their exact relative worth; and even if our knowledge was more complete, -naturalists are as yet wholly at variance as to the laws which should -govern specific nomenclature. However, the hunter, the mere field -naturalist, and the lover of outdoor life, are only secondarily -interested in the niceness of these distinctions. - -In addition to being a true sportsman and not a game butcher, in -addition to being a humane man as well as keen-eyed, strong-limbed, and -stout-hearted, the big game hunter should be a field naturalist. If -possible, he should be an adept with the camera; and hunting with the -camera will tax his skill far more than hunting with the rifle, while -the results in the long run give much greater satisfaction. Wherever -possible he should keep a note-book, and should carefully study and -record the habits of the wild creatures, especially when in some remote -regions to which trained scientific observers but rarely have access. If -we could only produce a hunter who would do for American big game what -John Burroughs has done for the smaller wild life of hedgerow and -orchard, farm and garden and grove, we should indeed be fortunate. Yet -even though a man does not possess the literary faculty and the powers -of trained observation necessary for such a task, he can do his part -toward adding to our information by keeping careful notes of all the -important facts which he comes across. Such note-books would show the -changed habits of game with the changed seasons, their abundance at -different times and different places, the melancholy data of their -disappearance, the pleasanter facts as to their change of habits which -enable them to continue to exist in the land, and, in short, all their -traits. A real and lasting service would thereby be rendered not only to -naturalists, but to all who care for nature. - -Along the Little Missouri there have been several curious changes in the -fauna within my own knowledge. Thus magpies have greatly decreased in -numbers. This is, I believe, owing to the wolf hunters, for magpies -often come around carcasses and pick up poisoned baits. I have seen as -many as seven lying dead around a bait. They are much less plentiful -than they formerly were. In 1894 I was rather surprised at meeting a -porcupine, usually a beast of the timber, at least twenty miles from -trees. He was grubbing after sage-brush roots on the edge of a cut bank -by a half-dried creek. I was stalking an antelope at the time, and -stopped to watch him for about five minutes. He paid no heed to me, -though I was within three or four paces of him. Porcupines are easily -exterminated; and they have diminished in numbers in this neighborhood. -Both the lucivee, or northern lynx, and the wolverene have been found on -the Little Missouri, near the Kildeer Mountains, but I do not know of a -specimen of either that has been killed there for some years past. -Bobcats are still not uncommon. The blackfooted ferret was always rare, -and is rare now. But few beaver are left; they were very abundant in -1880, but were speedily trapped out when the Indians vanished and the -Northern Pacific Railroad was built. While this railroad was building, -the beaver frequently caused much trouble by industriously damming the -culverts. - -With us the first animal to disappear was the buffalo. In the old days, -say from 1870 to 1880, the buffalo were probably the most abundant of -all animals along the Little Missouri in the region that I know, -ranging, say, from Pretty Buttes to the Kildeer Mountains. They were -migratory, and at times almost all of them might leave; but, on the -whole, they were the most abundant of the game animals. In 1881 they -were still almost as numerous as ever. In 1883 all were killed but a few -stragglers, and the last of these stragglers that I heard of as seen in -our immediate neighborhood was in 1885. The second game animal in point -of abundance was the blacktail. It did not go out on the prairies, but -in the broken country adjoining the river it was far more plentiful than -any other kind of game. Blacktail were not much slaughtered until the -buffalo began to give out, say in 1882; but by 1896 they were not a -twentieth—probably not a fiftieth—as plentiful as they had been in 1882. -A few are still found in out-of-the-way places, where the ground is very -rough. Elk were plentiful in 1880, though never anything like as -abundant as the buffalo and the blacktail. Only straggling parties or -individuals have been seen since 1883. The last I shot near my ranch was -in 1886; but two or three have been shot since, and a cow and calf were -seen, chased and almost roped by the riders on the round-up in the fall -of 1892. Whitetail were never as numerous as the other game, but they -held their own better, and a few can be shot yet. In 1883 probably -twenty blacktail were killed for every one whitetail; in 1896 the -numbers were about equal. Antelope were plentiful in the old days, -though not nearly so much so as the buffalo and blacktail. The hunters -did not molest them while the buffalo and elk lasted, and they then -turned their attention to the blacktail. For some years after 1883 I -think the pronghorn in our neighborhood positively increased in numbers. -In 1886 I thought them more plentiful than I had ever known them before. -Then they decreased; after 1893 the decrease was rapid. A few still -remain. Mountain sheep were never very plentiful, and decreased -proportionately with less rapidity than any other game; but they are now -almost exterminated. Bears likewise were never plentiful, and cougars -were always scarce. - -There were two stages of hunting in this country, as in almost all other -countries similarly situated. In 1880 the Northern Pacific Railroad was -built nearly to the edge of the Bad Lands, and the danger of Indian war -was totally eliminated. A great inrush of hunters followed. In 1881, -1882 and 1883 buffalo, elk and blacktail were slaughtered in enormous -numbers, and a good many whitetail and prongbuck were killed too. By -1884 the game had been so thinned out that hide-hunting and meat-hunting -ceased to pay. A few professional hunters remained, but most of them -moved elsewhere, or were obliged to go into other business. From that -time the hunting has chiefly been done by ranchers and occasional small -grangers. In consequence, for six or eight years the game about held its -own—the antelope, as I have said above, at one time increasing; but the -gradual growth in the number of actual settlers then began to tell, and -the game became scarce. Nowadays settlers along the Little Missouri can -kill an occasional deer or antelope; but it can hardly be called a game -country. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - THE WHITETAIL DEER - - -The whitetail deer is now, as it always has been, the most plentiful and -most widely distributed of American big game. It holds its own in the -land better than any other species, because it is by choice a dweller in -the thick forests and swamps, the places around which the tide of -civilization flows, leaving them as islets of refuge for the wild -creatures which formerly haunted all the country. The range of the -whitetail is from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Canadian to -the Mexican borders, and somewhat to the north and far to the south of -these limits. The animal shows a wide variability, both individually and -locally, within these confines; from the hunter’s standpoint it is not -necessary to try to determine exactly the weight that attaches to these -local variations. - -There is also a very considerable variation in habits. As compared with -the mule-deer, the whitetail is not a lover of the mountains. As -compared with the prongbuck, it is not a lover of the treeless plains. -Yet in the Alleghanies and the Adirondacks, at certain seasons -especially, and in some places at all seasons, it dwells high among the -densely wooded mountains, wandering over their crests and sheer sides, -and through the deep ravines; while in the old days there were parts of -Texas and the Indian Territory where it was found in great herds far out -on the prairie. Moreover, the peculiar nature of its chosen habitat, -while generally enabling it to resist the onslaught of man longer than -any of its fellows, sometimes exposes it to speedy extermination. To the -westward of the rich bottom-lands and low prairies of the Mississippi -Valley proper, when the dry plains country is reached, the natural -conditions are much less favorable for whitetail than for other big -game. The black bear, which in the East has almost precisely the same -habitat as the whitetail, disappears entirely on the great plains, and -reappears in the Rockies in regions which the whitetail does not reach. -All over the great plains, into the foothills of the Rockies, the -whitetail is found, but only in the thick timber of the river bottoms. -Throughout the regions of the Upper Missouri and Upper Platte, the Big -Horn, Powder, Yellowstone, and Cheyenne, over all of which I have -hunted, the whitetail lives among the cottonwood groves and dense brush -growth that fringe the river beds and here and there extend some -distance up the mouths of the large creeks. In these places the -whitetail and the mule-deer may exist in close proximity; but normally -neither invades the haunts of the other. - -Along the ordinary plains river, such as the Little Missouri, where I -ranched for many years, there are three entirely different types of -country through which a man passes as he travels away from the bed of -the river. There is first the alluvial river bottom covered with -cottonwood and box-elder, together with thick brush. These bottoms may -be a mile or two across, or they may shrink to but a few score yards. -After the extermination of the wapiti, which roamed everywhere, the only -big game animal found in them was the whitetail deer. Beyond this level -alluvial bottom the ground changes abruptly to bare, rugged hills or -fantastically carved and shaped Bad Lands rising on either side of the -river, the ravines, coulees, creeks, and canyons twisting through them -in every direction. Here there are patches of ash, cedar, pine, and -occasionally other trees, but the country is very rugged, and the cover -very scanty. This is the home of the mule-deer, and, in the roughest and -wildest parts, of the bighorn. The absolutely clear and sharply defined -line of demarkation between this rough, hilly country, flanking the -river, and the alluvial river bottom, serves as an equally clearly -marked line of demarkation between the ranges of the whitetail and the -mule-deer. This belt of broken country may be only a few hundred yards -in width; or it may extend for a score of miles before it changes into -the open prairies, the high plains proper. As soon as these are reached, -the prongbuck’s domain begins. - -As the plains country is passed, and the vast stretches of mountainous -region entered, the river bottoms become narrower, and the plains on -which the prongbuck is found become of very limited extent, shrinking to -high valleys and plateaus, while the mass of rugged foothills and -mountains add immensely to the area of the mule-deer’s habitat. - -Given equal areas of country, of the three different types alluded to -above, that in which the mule-deer is found offers the greatest chance -of success to the rifle-bearing hunter, because there is enough cover to -shield him and not enough to allow his quarry to escape by stealth and -hiding. On the other hand, the thick river bottoms offer him the -greatest difficulty. In consequence, where the areas of distribution of -the different game animals are about equal, the mule-deer disappears -first before the hunter, the prongbuck next, while the whitetail holds -out the best of all. I saw this frequently on the Yellowstone, the -Powder, and the Little Missouri. When the ranchmen first came into this -country the mule-deer swarmed, and yielded a far more certain harvest to -the hunter than did either the prongbuck or the whitetail. They were the -first to be thinned out, the prongbuck lasting much better. The cowboys -and small ranchmen, most of whom did not at the time have hounds, then -followed the prongbuck; and this, in its turn, was killed out before the -whitetail. But in other places a slight change in the conditions -completely reversed the order of destruction. In parts of Wyoming and -Montana the mountainous region where the mule-deer dwelt was of such -vast extent, and the few river bottoms on which the whitetail were found -were so easily hunted, that the whitetail was completely exterminated -throughout large districts where the mule-deer continued to abound. -Moreover, in these regions the table-lands and plains upon which the -prongbuck was found were limited in extent, and although the prongbuck -outlasted the whitetail, it vanished long before the herds of the -mule-deer had been destroyed from among the neighboring mountains. - -The whitetail was originally far less common in the forests of northern -New England than was the moose, for in the deep snows the moose had a -much better chance to escape from its brute foes and to withstand cold -and starvation. But when man appeared upon the scene he followed the -moose so much more eagerly than he followed the deer that the conditions -were reversed and the moose was killed out. The moose thus vanished -entirely from the Adirondacks, and almost entirely from Maine; but the -excellent game laws of the latter State, and the honesty and efficiency -with which they have been executed during the last twenty years, have -resulted in an increase of moose during that time. During the same -period the whitetail deer has increased to an even greater extent. It is -doubtless now more plentiful in New York and New England than it was a -quarter of a century ago. Stragglers are found in Connecticut, and, what -is still more extraordinary, even occasionally come into wild parts of -densely populated little Rhode Island—my authority for the last -statement being Mr. C. Grant La Farge. Of all our wild game, the -whitetail responds most quickly to the efforts for its protection, and -except the wapiti, it thrives best in semi-domestication; in -consequence, it has proved easy to preserve it, even in such places as -Cape Cod in Massachusetts and Long Island in New York; while it has -increased greatly in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and has more -than held its own in the Adirondacks. Mr. James R. Sheffield, of New -York City, in the summer of 1899, spent several weeks on a fishing trip -through northern Maine. He kept count of the moose and deer he saw, and -came across no less than thirty-five of the former and over five hundred -and sixty of the latter. In the most lonely parts of the forest deer -were found by the score, feeding in broad daylight on the edges of the -ponds. Deer are still plentiful in many parts of the Alleghany -Mountains, from Pennsylvania southward, and also in the swamps and -canebrakes of the South Atlantic and Gulf States. - -Where the differences in habitat and climate are so great there are many -changes of habits, and some of them of a noteworthy kind. Mr. John A. -McIlhenny, of Avery’s Island, Louisiana, formerly a lieutenant in my -regiment, lives in what is still a fine game country. His plantation is -in the delta of the Mississippi, among the vast marshes, north of which -lie the wooded swamps. Both the marshes and the swamps were formerly -literally thronged with whitetail deer, and the animals are still -plentiful in them. Mr. McIlhenny has done much deer-hunting, always -using hounds. He informs me that the breeding times are unexpectedly -different from those of the northern deer. In the North, in different -localities, the rut takes place in October or November, and the fawns -are dropped in May or June. In the Louisiana marshes around Avery’s -Island the rut begins early in July and the fawns are dropped in -February. In the swamps immediately north of these marshes the dates are -fully a month later. The marshes are covered with tall reeds and grass -and broken by bayous, while there are scattered over them what are -called “islands” of firmer ground overgrown with timber. In this -locality the deer live in the same neighborhood all the year round, just -as, for instance, they do on Long Island. So on the Little Missouri, in -the neighborhood of my ranch, they lived in exactly the same localities -throughout the entire year. Occasionally they would shift from one river -bottom to another, or go a few miles up or down stream because of -scarcity of food. But there was no general shifting. - -On the Little Missouri, in one place where they were not molested, I -knew a particular doe and fawn with whose habits I became quite -intimately acquainted. When the moon was full they fed chiefly by night, -and spent most of the day lying in the thick brush. When there was -little or no moon they would begin to feed early in the morning, then -take a siesta, and then—what struck me as most curious of all—would go -to a little willow-bordered pool about noon to drink, feeding for some -time both before and after drinking. After another siesta they would -come out late in the afternoon and feed until dark. - -In the Adirondacks the deer often completely alter their habits at -different seasons. Soon after the fawns are born they come down to the -water’s edge, preferring the neighborhood of the lakes, but also -haunting the stream banks. The next three months, during the hot -weather, they keep very close to the water, and get a large proportion -of their food by wading in after the lilies and other aquatic plants. -Where they are much hunted, they only come to the water’s edge after -dark, but in regions where they are little disturbed they are quite as -often diurnal in their habits. I have seen dozens feeding in the -neighborhood of a lake, some of them two or three hundred yards out in -shallow places, up to their bellies; and this after sunrise, or two or -three hours before sunset. Before September the deer cease coming to the -water, and go back among the dense forests and on the mountains. There -is no genuine migration, as in the case of the mule-deer, from one big -tract to another, and no entire desertion of any locality. But the food -supply which drew the animals to the water’s edge during the summer -months shows signs of exhaustion toward fall; the delicate water-plants -have vanished, the marsh-grass is dying, and the lilies are less -succulent. An occasional deer still wanders along the shores or out into -the lake, but most of them begin to roam the woods, eating the berries -and the leaves and twig ends of the deciduous trees, and even of some of -the conifers—although a whitetail is fond of grazing, especially upon -the tips of the grass. I have seen moose feeding on the tough old lily -stems and wading after them when the ice had skimmed the edges of the -pool. But the whitetail has usually gone back into the woods long before -freezing-time. - -From Long Island south there is not enough snow to make the deer alter -their habits in the winter. As soon as the rut is over, which in -different localities may be from October to December, whitetail are apt -to band together—more apt than at any other season, although even then -they are often found singly or in small parties. While nursing, the does -have been thin, and at the end of the rut the bucks are gaunt, with -their necks swollen and distended. From that time on bucks and does -alike put on flesh very rapidly in preparation for the winter. Where -there is no snow, or not enough to interfere with their travelling, they -continue to roam anywhere through the woods and across the natural -pastures and meadows, eating twigs, buds, nuts, and the natural hay -which is cured on the stalk. - -In the Northern woods they form yards during the winter. These yards are -generally found in a hardwood growth which offers a supply of winter -food, and consist simply of a tangle of winding trails beaten out -through the snow by the incessant passing and repassing of the animal. -The yard merely enables the deer to move along the various paths in -order to obtain food. If there are many deer together, the yards may -connect by interlacing paths, so that a deer can run a considerable -distance through them. Often, however, each deer will yard by itself, as -food is the prime consideration, and a given locality may only have -enough to support a single animal. When the snows grow deep the deer is -wholly unable to move, once the yard is left, and hence it is absolutely -at the mercy of a man on snowshoes, or of a cougar or a wolf, if found -at such times. The man on snowshoes can move very comfortably; and the -cougar and the wolf, although hampered by the snow, are not rendered -helpless like the deer. I have myself scared a deer out of a yard, and -seen it flounder helplessly in a great drift before it had gone thirty -rods. When I came up close it ploughed its way a very short distance -through the drifts, making tremendous leaps. But as the snow was over -six feet deep, so that the deer sank below the level of the surface at -each jump, and yet could not get its feet on the solid ground, it became -so exhausted that it fell over on its side and bleated in terror as I -came up. After looking at it I passed on. Hide-hunters and frontier -settlers sometimes go out after the deer on snowshoes when there is a -crust, and hence this method of killing is called crusting. It is simple -butchery, for the deer cannot, as the moose does, cause its pursuer a -chase which may last days. No self-respecting man would follow this -method of hunting save from the necessity of having meat. - -In very wild localities deer sometimes yard on the ice along the edges -of lakes, eating off all the twigs and branches, whether of hardwood -trees or of conifers, which they can reach. - -At the beginning of the rut the does flee from the bucks, which follow -them by scent at full speed. The whitetail buck rarely tries to form a -herd of does, though he will sometimes gather two or three. The mere -fact that his tactics necessitate a long and arduous chase after each -individual doe prevents his organizing herds as the wapiti bull does. -Sometimes two or three bucks will be found strung out one behind the -other, following the same doe. The bucks wage desperate battle among -themselves during this season, coming together with a clash, and then -pushing and straining for an hour or two at a time, with their mouths -open, until the weakest gives way. As soon as one abandons the fight he -flees with all possible speed, and usually escapes unscathed. While head -to head there is no opportunity for a disabling thrust, but if, in the -effort to retreat, the beaten buck gets caught, he may be killed. Owing -to the character of the antlers, whitetail bucks are peculiarly apt to -get them interlocked in such a fight, and if the efforts of the two -beasts fail to disentangle them, both ultimately perish by starvation. I -have several times come across a pair of skulls with interlocked -antlers. The same thing occurs, though far less frequently, to the -mule-deer and even the wapiti. - -The whitetail is the most beautiful and graceful of all our game animals -when in motion. I have never been able to agree with Judge Caton that -the mule-deer is clumsy and awkward in his gait. I suppose all such -terms are relative. Compared to the moose or caribou the mule-deer is -light and quick in his movements, and to me there is something very -attractive in the poise and power with which one of the great bucks -bounds off, all four legs striking the earth together and shooting the -body upward and forward as if they were steel springs. But there can be -no question as to the infinitely superior grace and beauty of the -whitetail when he either trots or runs. The mule-deer and blacktail -bound, as already described. The prongbuck gallops with an even gait, -and so does the bighorn, when it happens to be caught on a flat; but the -whitetail moves with an indescribable spring and buoyancy. If surprised -close up, and much terrified, it simply runs away as hard as it can, at -a gait not materially different from that of any other game animal under -like circumstances, while its head is thrust forward and held down, and -the tail is raised perpendicularly. But normally its mode of -progression, whether it trots or gallops, is entirely unique. In -trotting, the head and tail are both held erect, and the animal throws -out its legs with a singularly proud and free motion, bringing the feet -well up, while at every step there is an indescribable spring. In the -canter or gallop the head and tail are also held erect, the flashing -white brush being very conspicuous. Three or four low, long, -marvellously springy bounds are taken, and then a great leap is made -high in the air, which is succeeded by three or four low bounds, and -then by another high leap. A whitetail going through the brush in this -manner is a singularly beautiful sight. It has been my experience that -they are not usually very much frightened by an ordinary slow -track-hound, and I have seen a buck play along in front of one, -alternately trotting and cantering, head and flag up, and evidently -feeling very little fear. - -To my mind the chase of the whitetail, as it must usually be carried on, -offers less attraction than the chase of any other kind of our large -game. But this is a mere matter of taste, and such men as Judge Caton -and Mr. George Bird Grinnell have placed it above all others as a game -animal. Personally I feel that the chase of any animal has in it two -chief elements of attraction. The first is the chance given to be in the -wilderness; to see the sights and hear the sounds of wild nature. The -second is the demand made by the particular kind of chase upon the -qualities of manliness and hardihood. As regards the first, some kinds -of game, of course, lead the hunter into particularly remote and wild -localities; and the farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is -the attraction of its lonely freedom. Yet to camp out at all implies -some measure of this delight. The keen, fresh air, the breath of the -pine forests, the glassy stillness of the lake at sunset, the glory of -sunrise among the mountains, the shimmer of the endless prairies, the -ceaseless rustle of the cottonwood leaves where the wagon is drawn up on -the low bluff of the shrunken river—all these appeal intensely to any -man, no matter what may be the game he happens to be following. But -there is a wide variation, and indeed contrast, in the qualities called -for in the chase itself, according as one quarry or another is sought. - -The qualities that make a good soldier are, in large part, the qualities -that make a good hunter. Most important of all is the ability to shift -for one’s self, the mixture of hardihood and resourcefulness which -enables a man to tramp all day in the right direction, and, when night -comes, to make the best of whatever opportunities for shelter and warmth -may be at hand. Skill in the use of the rifle is another trait; -quickness in seeing game, another; ability to take advantage of cover, -yet another; while patience, endurance, keenness of observation, -resolution, good nerves, and instant readiness in an emergency, are all -indispensable to a really good hunter. - -If a man lives on a ranch, or is passing some weeks in a lodge in a game -country, and starts out for two or three days, he will often do well to -carry nothing whatever but a blanket, a frying-pan, some salt pork, and -some hardtack. If the hunting-ground is such that he can use a wagon or -a canoe, and the trip is not to be too long, he can carry about anything -he chooses, including a tent, any amount of bedding, and if it is very -cold, a small, portable stove, not to speak of elaborate cooking -apparatus. If he goes with a pack-train, he will also be able to carry a -good deal; but in such a case he must rely on the judgment of the -trained packers, unless he is himself an expert in the diamond hitch. If -it becomes necessary to go on foot for any length of time, he must be -prepared to do genuine roughing, and must get along with the minimum of -absolute necessities. - -It is hardly necessary to point out that the hunter worthy of the name -should be prepared to shift for himself in emergencies. A ranchman, or -any other man whose business takes him much in the mountains and out on -the great plains or among the forests, ought to be able to get along -entirely on his own account. But this cannot usually be done by those -whose existence is habitually more artificial. When a man who normally -lives a rather over-civilized life, an over-luxurious life—especially in -the great cities—gets off for a few weeks’ hunting, he cannot expect to -accomplish much in the way of getting game without calling upon the -services of a trained guide, woodsman, plainsman, or mountain man, whose -life-work it has been to make himself an adept in all the craft of the -wilderness. Until a man unused to wilderness life, even though a good -sportsman, has actually tried it, he has no idea of the difficulties and -hardships of shifting absolutely for himself, even for only two or three -days. Not only will the local guide have the necessary knowledge as to -precisely which one of two seemingly similar places is most apt to -contain game; not only will he possess the skill in packing horses, or -handling a canoe in rough water, or finding his way through the -wilderness, which the amateur must lack; but even the things which the -amateur does, the professional will do so much more easily and rapidly, -as in the one case to leave, and in the other case not to leave, ample -time for the hunting proper. Therefore the ordinary amateur sportsman, -especially if he lives in a city, must count upon the services of -trained men, possibly to help him in hunting, certainly to help him in -travelling, cooking, pitching camp, and the like; and this he must do, -if he expects to get good sport, no matter how hardy he may be, and no -matter how just may be the pride he ought to take in his own craft, -skill, and capacity to undergo fatigue and exposure. But while normally -he must take advantage of the powers of others, he should certainly make -a point of being able to shift for himself whenever the need arises; and -he can only be sure of possessing this capacity by occasionally -exercising it. It ought to be unnecessary to point out that the -wilderness is not a place for those who are dependent upon luxuries, and -above all for those who make a camping trip an excuse for debauchery. -Neither the man who wants to take a French cook and champagne on a -hunting trip, nor his equally objectionable though less wealthy brother -who is chiefly concerned with filling and emptying a large whiskey jug, -has any place whatever in the real life of the wilderness. - -The chase of an animal should rank according as it calls for the -exercise in a high degree of a large number of these qualities. The -grizzly is almost our only dangerous game, and under certain conditions -shooting the grizzly calls for considerable courage on the part of the -hunter. Disregarding these comparatively rare occasions, the chase of -mountain game, especially the bighorn, demands more hardihood, power of -endurance, and moral and physical soundness than any other kind of -sport, and so must come first. The wapiti and mule-deer rank next, for -they too must be killed by stalking as a result of long tramps over very -rough ground. To kill a moose by still hunting is a feat requiring a -high degree of skill, and entailing severe fatigue. When game is -followed on horseback, it means that the successful hunter must ride -well and boldly. - -The whitetail is occasionally found where it yields a very high quality -of sport. But normally it lives in regions where it is extremely -difficult to kill it legitimately, as the wapiti and mule-deer are -killed, and yet comparatively easy to kill it under circumstances which -make no demand for any particular prowess on the part of the hunter. It -is far more difficult to still hunt successfully in the dense brushy -timber frequented by the whitetail than in the open glades, the -mountains, and the rocky hills, through which the wapiti and mule-deer -wander. The difficulty arises, however, because the chief requirement is -stealth, noiselessness. The man who goes out into the hills for a -mule-deer must walk hard and far, must be able to bear fatigue, and -possibly thirst and hunger, must have keen eyes, and be a good shot. He -does not need to display the extraordinary power of stealthy advance -which is necessary to the man who would creep up to and kill a whitetail -in thick timber. Now, the qualities of hardihood and endurance are -better than the quality of stealth, and though all three are necessary -in both kinds of chase, yet it is the chase of the mule-deer which most -develops the former, and the chase of the whitetail which most develops -the latter. When the woods are bare and there is some snow on the -ground, however, still hunting the whitetail becomes not only possible, -but a singularly manly and attractive kind of sport. Where the whitetail -can be followed with horse and hound, the sport is also of a very high -order. To be able to ride through woods and over rough country at full -speed, rifle or shotgun in hand, and then to leap off and shoot at a -running object, is to show that one has the qualities which made the -cavalry of Forrest so formidable in the Civil War. There could be no -better training for the mounted rifleman, the most efficient type of -modern soldier. - -By far the easiest way to kill the whitetail is in one or other of -certain methods which entail very little work or skill on the part of -the hunter. The most noxious of these, crusting in the deep snows, has -already been spoken of. No sportsman worthy of the name would ever -follow so butcherly a method. Fire hunting must also normally be ruled -out. It is always mere murder if carried on by a man who sits up at a -lick, and is not much better where the hunter walks through the -fields—not to mention the fact that on such a walk he is quite as apt to -kill stock as to kill a deer. But fire hunting from a boat, or jacking, -as it is called, though it entails absolutely no skill in the hunter, -and though it is, and ought to be, forbidden, as it can best be carried -on at the season when nursing does are particularly apt to be the -victims, nevertheless has a certain charm of its own. The first deer I -ever killed, when a boy, was obtained in this way, and I have always -been glad to have had the experience, though I have never been willing -to repeat it. I was at the time camped out in the Adirondacks. - -Two or three of us, all boys of fifteen or sixteen, had been enjoying -what was practically our first experience in camping out, having gone -out with two guides, Hank Martin and Mose Sawyer, from Paul Smith’s on -Lake St. Regis. My brother and cousin were fond of fishing and I was -not, so I was deputed to try to bring in a deer. I had a -double-barrelled 12–bore gun, French pinfire, with which I had -industriously collected “specimens” on a trip to Egypt and Palestine and -on Long Island; except for three or four enthralling but not -over-successful days after woodcock and quail, I had done no game -shooting. As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the -Northern forests were to me a veritable land of enchantment. We were -encamped by a stream among the tall pines, and I had enjoyed everything; -poling and paddling the boat, tramping through the woods, the cries of -chickaree and chipmunk, of jay, woodpecker, chickadee, nuthatch, and -cross-bill, which broke the forest stillness; and, above all, the great -reaches of sombre woodland themselves. The heart-shaped footprints which -showed where the deer had come down to drink and feed on the marshy -edges of the water made my veins thrill; and the nights around the -flickering camp-fire seemed filled with romance. - -My first experiment in jacking was a failure. The jack, a bark lantern, -was placed upon a stick in the bow of the boat, and I sat in a cramped -huddle behind it, while Mose Sawyer plied the paddle with noiseless -strength and skill in the stern. I proved unable to respond even to the -very small demand made upon me, for when we actually did come upon a -deer I failed to see it until it ran, when I missed it; and on the way -back capped my misfortune by shooting a large owl which perched on a log -projecting into the water, looking at the lantern with two glaring eyes. - -All next day I was miserably conscious of the smothered disfavor of my -associates, and when night fell was told I would have another chance to -redeem myself. This time we started across a carry, the guide carrying -the light boat, and launched it in a quiet little pond about a mile off. -Dusk was just turning into darkness when we reached the edge of the -little lake, which was perhaps a mile long by three-quarters of a mile -across, with indented shores. We did not push off for half an hour or -so, until it was entirely dark; and then for a couple of hours we saw no -deer. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the ghostly, mysterious, -absolutely silent night ride over the water. Not the faintest splash -betrayed the work of the paddler. The boat glided stealthily alongshore, -the glare of the lantern bringing out for one moment every detail of the -forest growth on the banks, which the next second vanished into absolute -blackness. Several times we saw muskrats swimming across the lane of -light cut by the lantern through the darkness, and two or three times -their sudden plunging and splashing caused my heart to leap. Once when -we crossed the lake we came upon a loon floating buoyantly right out in -the middle of it. It stayed until we were within ten yards, so that I -could see the minute outlines of the feathers and every movement of the -eye. Then it swam off, but made no cry. At last, while crossing the -mouth of a bay we heard a splashing sound among the lilies inshore, -which even my untrained ears recognized as different from any of the -other noises we had yet heard, and a jarring motion of the paddle showed -that the paddler wished me to be on the alert. Without any warning, the -course of the boat was suddenly changed, and I was aware that we were -moving stern foremost. Then we swung around, and I could soon make out -that we were going down the little bay. The forest-covered banks -narrowed; then the marsh at the end was lighted up, and on its hither -edge, knee-deep among the water-lilies, appeared the figure of a -yearling buck still in the red. It stood motionless, gazing at the light -with a curiosity wholly unmixed with alarm, and at the shot wheeled and -fell at the water’s edge. We made up our mind to return to camp that -night, as it was before midnight. I carried the buck and the torch, and -the guide the boat, and the mile walk over the dim trail, occasionally -pitching forward across a stump or root, was a thing to be remembered. -It was my first deer, and I was very glad to get it; but although only a -boy, I had sense enough to realize that it was not an experience worth -repeating. The paddler in such a case deserves considerable credit, but -the shooter not a particle, even aside from the fact to which I have -already alluded, that in too many cases such shooting results in the -killing of nursing does. No matter how young a sportsman is, if he has a -healthy mind, he will not long take pleasure in any method of hunting in -which somebody else shows the skill and does the work so that his share -is only nominal. The minute that sport is carried on on these terms it -becomes a sham, and a sham is always detrimental to all who take part in -it. - -Whitetail are comparatively easily killed with hounds, and there are -very many places where this is almost the only way they can be killed at -all. Formerly in the Adirondacks this method of hunting was carried on -under circumstances which rendered those who took part in it objects of -deserved contempt. The sportsman stood in a boat while his guides put -out one or two hounds in the chosen forest side. After a longer or -shorter run the deer took to the water; for whitetail are excellent -swimmers, and when pursued by hounds try to shake them off by wading up -or down stream or by swimming across a pond, and, if tired, come to bay -in some pool or rapid. Once the unfortunate deer was in the water, the -guide rowed the boat after it. If it was yet early in the season, and -the deer was still in the red summer coat, it would sink when shot, and -therefore the guide would usually take hold of its tail before the -would-be Nimrod butchered it. If the deer was in the blue, the carcass -would float, so it was not necessary to do anything quite so palpably -absurd. But such sport, so far as the man who did the shooting was -concerned, had not one redeeming feature. The use of hounds has now been -prohibited by law. - -In regions where there are no lakes, and where the woods are thick, the -shooters are stationed at runways by which it is supposed the deer may -pass when the hounds are after them. Under such circumstances the man -has to show the skill requisite to hit the running quarry, and if he -uses the rifle, this means that he must possess a certain amount of -address in handling the weapon. But no other quality is called for, and -so even this method, though often the only possible one (and it may be -necessary to return to it in the Adirondacks), can never rank high in -the eyes of men who properly appreciate what big game hunting should be. -It is the usual method of killing deer on Long Island, during the three -or four days of each year when they can be legally hunted. The deer are -found along the south and centre of the eastern half of the island; they -were nearly exterminated a dozen years ago, but under good laws they -have recently increased greatly. The extensive grounds of the various -sportsmen’s clubs, and the forests of scrub-oak in the sparsely settled -inland region, give them good harbors and sanctuaries. On the days when -it is legal to shoot them, hundreds of hunters turn out from the -neighborhood, and indeed from all the island and from New York. On such -a day it is almost impossible to get any work done; for the sport is -most democratic, and is shared by everybody. The hunters choose their -position before dawn, lying in lines wherever deer are likely to pass, -while the hounds are turned into every patch of thick cover. A most -lively day follows, the fusillade being terrific; some men are -invariably shot, and a goodly number of deer are killed, mostly by wily -old hunters who kill ducks and quail for a living in the fall. - -When the horse is used together with the hounds the conditions are -changed. To ride a horse over rough country after game always implies -hardihood and good horsemanship, and therefore makes the sport a worthy -one. In very open country—in such country, for instance, as the -whitetail formerly frequented both in Texas and the Indian Territory—the -horseman could ride at the tail of the pack until the deer was fairly -run down. But nowadays I know of no place where this is possible, for -the whitetail’s haunts are such as to make it impracticable for any -rider to keep directly behind the hounds. What he must do is to try to -cut the game off by riding from point to point. He then leaps off the -horse and watches his chance for a shot. This is the way in which Mr. -McIlhenny has done most of his deer-hunting, in the neighborhood of his -Louisiana plantation. - -Around my ranch I very rarely tried to still-hunt whitetail, because it -was always easier to get mule-deer or prongbuck, if I had time to go off -for an all-day’s hunt. Occasionally, however, we would have at the ranch -hounds, usually of the old black-and-tan Southern type, and then if we -needed meat, and there was not time for a hunt back in the hills, we -would turn out and hunt one or two of the river bottoms with these -hounds. If I rode off to the prairies or the hills I went alone, but if -the quarry was a whitetail, our chance of success depended upon our -having a sufficient number of guns to watch the different passes and -runways. Accordingly, my own share of the chase was usually limited to -the fun of listening to the hounds, and of galloping at headlong speed -from one point where I thought the deer would not pass to some other, -which, as a matter of fact, it did not pass either. The redeeming -feature of the situation was that if I did get a shot, I almost always -got my deer. Under ordinary circumstances to merely wound a deer is -worse than not hitting it; but when there are hounds along they are -certain to bring the wounded animal to bay, and so on these hunts we -usually got venison. - -[Illustration: - - ELKHORN RANCH -] - -Of course, I occasionally got a whitetail when I was alone, whether with -the hounds or without them. There were whitetail on the very bottom on -which the ranch-house stood, as well as on the bottom opposite, and on -those to the right and left up and down stream. Occasionally I have -taken the hounds out alone, and then as they chevied the whitetail -around the bottom, have endeavored by rapid running on foot or on -horseback to get to some place from which I could obtain a shot. The -deer knew perfectly well that the hounds could not overtake them, and -they would usually do a great deal of sneaking round and round through -the underbrush and cottonwoods before they finally made up their minds -to leave the bottom. On one occasion a buck came sneaking down a game -trail through the buck brush where I stood, going so low that I could -just see the tips of his antlers, and though I made desperate efforts I -was not able to get into a position from which I could obtain a shot. On -another occasion, while I was looking intently into a wood through which -I was certain a deer would pass, it deliberately took to the open ground -behind me, and I did not see it until it was just vanishing. Normally, -the end of my efforts was that the deer went off and the hounds -disappeared after it, not to return for six or eight hours. Once or -twice things favored me; I happened to take the right turn or go in the -right direction, and the deer happened to blunder past me; and then I -returned with venison for supper. Two or three times I shot deer about -nightfall or at dawn, in the immediate neighborhood of the ranch, -obtaining them by sneaking as noiselessly as possible along the cattle -trails through the brush and timber, or by slipping along the edge of -the river bank. Several times I saw deer while I was sitting on the -piazza or on the doorstep of the ranch, and on one occasion I stepped -back into the house, got the rifle, and dropped the animal from where I -stood. - -On yet other occasions I obtained whitetail which lived not on the river -bottoms but among the big patches of brush and timber in the larger -creeks. When they were found in such country I hunted them very much as -I hunted the mule-deer, and usually shot one when I was expecting as -much to see a mule-deer as a whitetail. When the game was plentiful I -would often stay on my horse until the moment of obtaining the shot, -especially if it was in the early morning or late evening. My method -then was to ride slowly and quietly down the winding valleys and across -the spurs, hugging the bank, so that, if deer were feeding in the open, -I would get close up before either of us saw the other. Sometimes the -deer would halt for a moment when it saw me, and sometimes it would -bound instantly away. In either case my chance lay in the speed with -which I could jump off the horse and take my shot. Even in favorable -localities this method was of less avail with whitetail than mule-deer, -because the former were so much more apt to skulk. - -As soon as game became less plentiful my hunting had to be done on foot. -My object was to be on the hunting-ground by dawn, or else to stay out -there until it grew too dark to see the sights of my rifle. Often all I -did was to keep moving as quietly as possible through likely ground, -ever on the alert for the least trace of game; sometimes I would select -a lookout and carefully scan a likely country to see if I could not -detect something moving. On one occasion I obtained an old whitetail -buck by the simple exercise of patience. I had twice found him in a -broad basin, composed of several coulees, all running down to form the -head of a big creek, and all of them well timbered. He dodged me on both -occasions, and I made up my mind that I would spend a whole day in -watching for him from a little natural ambush of sage-bush and cedar on -a high point which overlooked the entire basin. I crept up to my ambush -with the utmost caution early in the morning, and there I spent the -entire day, with my lunch and a water-bottle, continually scanning the -whole region most carefully with the glasses. The day passed less -monotonously than it sounds, for every now and then I would catch a -glimpse of wild life; once a fox, once a coyote, and once a badger; -while the little chipmunks had a fine time playing all around me. At -last, about mid-afternoon, I suddenly saw the buck come quietly out of -the dense thicket in which he had made his midday bed, and deliberately -walk up a hillside and lie down in a thin clump of ash where the sun -could get at him—for it was in September, just before the rut began. -There was no chance of stalking him in the place he had chosen, and all -I could do was to wait. It was nearly sunset before he moved again, -except that I occasionally saw him turn his head. Then he got up, and -after carefully scrutinizing all the neighborhood, moved down into a -patch of fairly thick brush, where I could see him standing and -occasionally feeding, all the time moving slowly up the valley. I now -slipped most cautiously back and trotted nearly a mile until I could -come up behind one of the ridges bounding the valley in which he was. -The wind had dropped and it was almost absolutely still when I crawled -flat on my face to the crest, my hat in my left hand, my rifle in my -right. There was a big sage-bush conveniently near, and under this I -peered. There was a good deal of brush in the valley below, and if I had -not known that the buck was there, I would never have discovered him. As -it was, I watched for a quarter of an hour, and had about made up my -mind that he must have gone somewhere else, when a slight movement -nearly below me attracted my attention, and I caught a glimpse of him -nearly three hundred yards off, moving quietly along by the side of a -little dry watercourse which was right in the middle of the brush. I -waited until he was well past, and then again slipped back with the -utmost care, and ran on until I was nearly opposite the head of the -coulee, when I again approached the ridge-line. Here there was no -sage-bush, only tufts of tall grass, which were stirring in the little -breeze which had just sprung up, fortunately in the right direction. -Taking advantage of a slight inequality in the soil, I managed to get -behind one of these tufts, and almost immediately saw the buck. Toward -the head of the coulee the brush had become scanty and low, and he was -now walking straight forward, evidently keeping a sharp lookout. The sun -had just set. His course took him past me at a distance of eighty yards. -When directly opposite I raised myself on my elbows, drawing up the -rifle, which I had shoved ahead of me. The movement of course caught his -eye at once; he halted for one second to look around and see what it -was, and during that second I pulled the trigger. Away he went, his -white flag switching desperately, and though he galloped over the hill, -I felt he was mine. However, when I got to the top of the rise over -which he had gone, I could not see him, and as there was a deep though -narrow coulee filled with brush on the other side, I had a very ugly -feeling that I might have lost him, in spite of the quantity of blood he -had left along his trail. It was getting dark, and I plunged quickly -into the coulee. Usually a wounded deer should not be followed until it -has had time to grow stiff, but this was just one of the cases where the -rule would have worked badly; in the first place, because darkness was -coming on, and in the next place, because the animal was certain to die -shortly, and all that I wanted was to see where he was. I followed his -trail into the coulee, and expected to find that he had turned down it, -but a hurried examination in the fading light showed me that he had -taken the opposite course, and I scrambled hastily out on the other -side, and trotted along, staring into the brush, and now and then -shouting or throwing in a clod of earth. When nearly at the head there -was a crackling in the brush, and out burst the wounded buck. He -disappeared behind a clump of elms, but he had a hard hill to go up, and -the effort was too much for him. When I next saw him he had halted, and -before I could fire again down he came. - -On another occasion I spied a whole herd of whitetail feeding in a -natural meadow, right out in the open, in mid-afternoon, and was able to -get up so close that when I finally shot a yearling buck (which was one -of the deer farthest away from me, there being no big buck in the -outfit), the remaining deer, all does and fawns, scattered in every -direction, some galloping right past me in their panic. Once or twice I -was able to perform a feat of which I had read, but in which I scarcely -believed. This was, to creep up to a deer while feeding in the open, by -watching when it shook its tail, and then remaining motionless. I cannot -say whether the habit is a universal one, but on two occasions at least -I was able thus to creep up to the feeding deer, because before lifting -its head it invariably shook its tail, thereby warning me to stay -without moving until it had lifted its head, scrutinized the landscape, -and again lowered its head to graze. The eyesight of the whitetail, as -compared with that of the pronghorn antelope, is poor. It notes whatever -is in motion, but it seems unable to distinguish clearly anything that -is not in motion. On the occasions in question no antelope that I have -ever seen would have failed to notice me at once and to take alarm. But -the whitetail, although it scrutinized me narrowly, while I lay -motionless with my head toward it, seemed in each case to think that I -must be harmless, and after a while it would go on feeding. In one -instance the animal fed over a ridge and walked off before I could get a -shot; in the other instance I killed it. - -In 1894, on the last day I spent at the ranch, and with the last bullet -I fired from my rifle, I killed a fine whitetail buck. I left the -ranch-house early in the afternoon on my favorite pony, Muley, my -foreman, Sylvane Ferris, riding with me. We forded the shallow river and -rode up a long winding coulee, with belts of timber running down its -bottom. After going a couple of miles, by sheer good luck we stumbled on -three whitetail—a buck, a doe and a fawn. When we saw them they were -trying to sneak off, and immediately my foreman galloped toward one end -of the belt of timber in which they were, and started to ride down -through it, while I ran Muley to the other end to intercept them. They -were, of course, quite likely to break off to one side; but this -happened to be one of the occasions when everything went right. When I -reached the spot from which I covered the exits from the timber, I -leaped off, and immediately afterward heard a shout from my foreman that -told me the deer were on foot. Muley was a pet horse, and enjoyed -immensely the gallop after game; but his nerves invariably failed him at -the shot. On this occasion he stood snorting beside me, and finally, as -the deer came in sight, away he tore—only to go about 200 yards, -however, and stand and watch us, snorting, with his ears pricked forward -until, when I needed him, I went for him. At the moment, however, I paid -no heed to Muley, for a cracking in the brush told me the game was -close, and I caught the shadowy outlines of the doe and the fawn as they -scudded through the timber. By good luck, the buck, evidently flurried, -came right on the edge of the woods next to me, and as he passed, -running like a quarter-horse, I held well ahead of him and pulled -trigger. The bullet broke his neck and down he went—a fine fellow with a -handsome ten-point head, and fat as a prize sheep; for it was just -before the rut. Then we rode home, and I sat in a rocking-chair on the -ranch-house veranda, looking across the wide, sandy river bed at the -strangely shaped buttes and the groves of shimmering cottonwoods until -the sun went down and the frosty air bade me go in. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - THE MULE-DEER, OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACKTAIL - - -This is the largest and finest of our three smaller deer. Throughout its -range it is known as the blacktail deer, and it has as good a historic -claim to the title as its Pacific coast kinsman, the coast or true -blacktail. In writing purely of this species, it seems like pedantry to -call it by its book name of mule-deer, a name which conveys little or no -meaning to the people who live in its haunts and who hunt it; but it is -certainly very confusing to know two distinct types of deer by one name, -and as both the Rocky Mountain blacktail and Coast blacktail are thus -known, and as the former is occasionally known as mule-deer, I shall, -for convenience’ sake, speak of it under this name—a name given it -because of its great ears, which rather detract from its otherwise very -handsome appearance. - -The mule-deer is a striking and beautiful animal. As is the case with -our other species, it varies greatly in size, but is on the average -heavier than either the whitetail or the true blacktail. The horns also -average longer and heavier, and in exceptional heads are really -noteworthy trophies. Ordinarily a full-grown buck has a head of ten -distinct and well-developed points, eight of which consist of the -bifurcations of the two main prongs into which each antler divides, -while in addition there are two shorter basal or frontal points. But the -latter are very irregular, being sometimes missing; while sometimes -there are two or three of them on each antler. When missing it usually -means that the antlers are of young animals that have not attained their -full growth. A yearling will sometimes have merely a pair of spikes, and -sometimes each spike will be bifurcated so as to make two points. A -two-year-old may develop antlers which, though small, possess the normal -four points. Occasionally, where unusually big heads are developed, -there are a number of extra points. If these are due to deformity, they -simply take away from the beauty of the head; but where they are -symmetrical, while at the same time the antlers are massive, they add -greatly to the beauty. All the handsomest and largest heads show this -symmetrical development of extra points. It is rather hard to lay down a -hard-and-fast rule for counting them. The largest and finest antlers are -usually rough, and it is not easy to say when a particular point in -roughness has developed so that it may legitimately be called a prong. -The largest head I ever got to my own rifle had twenty-eight points, -symmetrically arranged, the antlers being rough and very massive as well -as very long. The buck was an immense fellow, but no bigger than other -bucks I have shot which possessed ordinary heads. - -The mule-deer is found from the rough country which begins along the -eastern edges of the great plains, across the Rocky Mountains to the -eastern slopes of the coast ranges, and into southern California. It -extends into Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. On the west it -touches, and here and there crosses, the boundaries of the Coast -blacktail. The whitetail is found in places throughout its habitat from -east to west and from north to south. But there are great regions in -this territory which are peculiarly fitted for the mule-deer, but in -which the whitetail is never found, as the habits of the two are -entirely different. In the mountains of western Colorado and Wyoming, -for instance, the mule-deer swarms, but the whole region is unfit for -the whitetail, which is accordingly only found in a very few narrowly -restricted localities. - -The mule-deer does not hold its own as well as the whitetail in the -presence of man, but it is by no means as quickly exterminated as the -wapiti. The outside limits of its range have not shrunk materially in -the century during which it has been known to white hunters. It was -never found until the fertile, moist country of the Mississippi Valley -was passed and the dry plains region to the west of it reached, and it -still exists in some numbers here and there in this country, as, for -instance, in the Bad Lands along the Little Missouri, and in the Black -Hills. But although its limits of distribution have not very sensibly -diminished, there are large portions of the range within these limits -from which it has practically vanished, and in most places its numbers -have been woefully thinned. It holds its own best among the more -inaccessible mountain masses of the Rockies, and from Chihuahua to -Alberta there are tracts where it is still abundant. Yet even in these -places the numbers are diminishing, and this process can be arrested -only by better laws, and above all, by a better administration of the -law. The national Government could do much by establishing its forest -reserves as game reserves, and putting on a sufficient number of forest -rangers who should be empowered to prevent all hunting on the reserves. -The State governments can do still more. Colorado has good laws, but -they are not well enforced. The easy method of accounting for this fact -is to say that it is due to the politicians; but in reality the -politicians merely represent the wishes, or more commonly the -indifference, of the people. As long as the good citizens of a State are -indifferent to game protection, or take but a tepid interest in it, the -politicians, through their agents, will leave the game laws unenforced. -But if the people of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana come to feel the -genuine interest in the enforcement of these laws that the people of -Maine and Vermont have grown to take during the past twenty years, that -the people of Montana and Wyoming who dwell alongside the Yellowstone -Park are already taking—then not only will the mule-deer cease to -diminish, but it will positively increase. It is a mistake to suppose -that such a change would only be to the advantage of well-to-do -sportsmen. Men who are interested in hunting for hunting’s sake, men who -come from the great cities remote from the mountains in order to get -three or four weeks’ healthy, manly holiday, would undoubtedly be -benefited; but the greatest benefit would be to the people of the -localities, of the neighborhoods round about. The presence of the game -would attract outsiders who would leave in the country money, or its -equivalent, which would many times surpass in value the game they -actually killed; and furthermore, the preservation of the game would -mean that the ranchmen and grangers who live near its haunts would have -in perpetuity the chance of following the pleasantest and healthiest of -all out-of-door pastimes; whereas, if through their short-sightedness -they destroy, or permit to be destroyed, the game, they are themselves -responsible for the fact that their children and children’s children -will find themselves forever debarred from a pursuit which must under -such circumstances become the amusement only of the very rich. If we are -really alive to our opportunities under our democratic social and -political system, we can keep for ourselves—and by “ourselves” I mean -the enormous bulk of men whose means range from moderate to very -small—ample opportunity for the enjoyment of hunting and shooting, of -vigorous and blood-stirring out-of-doors sport. If we fail to take -advantage of our possibilities, if we fail to pass, in the interest of -all, wise game laws, and to see that these game laws are properly -enforced, we shall then have to thank ourselves if in the future the -game is only found in the game preserves of the wealthy; and under such -circumstances only these same wealthy people will have the chance to -hunt it. - -The mule-deer differs widely from the whitetail in its habits, and -especially in its gait, and in the kind of country which it frequents. -Although in many parts of its range it is found side by side with its -whitetail cousin, the two do not actually associate together, and their -propinquity is due simply to the fact, that the river bottoms being a -favorite haunt of the whitetail, long tongues of the distribution area -of this species are thrust into the domain of its bolder, less stealthy -and less crafty kinsman. Throughout the plains country the whitetail is -the deer of the river bottoms, where the rank growth gives it secure -hiding-places, as well as ample food. The mule-deer, on the contrary, -never comes down into the dense growths of the river bottoms. Throughout -the plains country it is the deer of the broken Bad Lands which fringe -these river bottoms on either side, and of the rough ravines which wind -their way through the Bad Lands to the edge of the prairie country which -lies back of them. The broken hills, their gorges filled with patches of -ash, buck brush, cedar, and dwarf pine, form a country in which the -mule-deer revels. The whitetail will, at times, wander far out on the -prairies where the grass is tall and rank; but it is not nearly so bold -or fond of the open as the mule-deer. The latter is frequently found in -hilly country where the covering is so scanty that the animal must be -perpetually on the watch, as if it were a bighorn or prongbuck, in order -to spy its foes at a distance and escape before they can come near; -whereas the whitetail usually seeks to elude observation by hiding—by -its crouching, stealthy habits. - -It must be remembered, however, that with the mule-deer, as with all -other species of animals, there is a wide variability in habits under -different conditions. This is often forgotten even by trained -naturalists, who accept the observations made in one locality as if they -applied throughout the range of the species. Thus in the generally good -account of the habits of this species in Mr. Lydeker’s book on the “Deer -of All Lands” it is asserted that mule-deer never dwell permanently in -the forest, and feed almost exclusively on grass. The first statement is -entirely, the second only partly, true of the mule-deer of the plains -from the Little Missouri westward to the headwaters of the Platte, the -Yellowstone, and the Big Horn; but there are large parts of the Rockies -in which neither statement applies at all. In the course of several -hunting trips among the densely wooded mountains of western Montana, -along the water-shed separating the streams that flow into Clarke’s Fork -of the Columbia from those that ultimately empty into Kootenay Lake, I -found the mule-deer plentiful in many places where practically the whole -country was covered by dense forest, and where the opportunities for -grazing were small indeed, as we found to our cost in connection with -our pack-train. In this region the mule-deer lived the entire time among -the timber, and subsisted for the most part on browse. Occasionally they -would find an open glade and graze; but the stomachs of those killed -contained not grass, but blueberries and the leaves and delicate tips of -bushes. I was not in this country in winter, but it was evident that -even at that season the deer must spend their time in the thick timber. -There was no chance for them to go above the timber line, because the -mountains were densely wooded to their summits, and the white goats of -the locality also lived permanently in the timber.[3] It was far harder -to get the mule-deer than it was to get the white goats, for the latter -were infinitely more conspicuous, were slower in their movements, and -bolder and less shy. Almost the only way we succeeded in killing the -deer was by finding one of their well-trodden paths and lying in wait -beside it very early in the morning or quite late in the afternoon. The -season was August and September, and the deer were astir long before -sunset. They usually, but not always, lay high up on the mountain-sides, -and while they sometimes wandered to and fro browsing on the mountains, -they often came down to feed in the valleys, where the berries were -thicker. Their paths were well beaten, although, like all game trails, -after being as plainly marked as a pony track for a quarter of a mile or -so, they would suddenly grow faint and vanish. The paths ran nearly -straight up and down hill, and even when entirely undisturbed, the deer -often came down them at a great rate, bouncing along in a way that -showed that they had no fear of developing the sprung knees which we -should fear for a domestic animal which habitually tried the same -experiment. - -Footnote 3: - - I call particular attention to this fact concerning the white goat, as - certain recent writers, including Mr. Madison Grant, have erroneously - denied it. - -In other habits also the deer vary widely in different localities. For -instance, there is an absolute contrast as regards their migratory -habits between the mule-deer which live in the Bad Lands along the -Little Missouri, and those which live in northwestern Colorado; and this -difference is characteristic generally of the deer which in the summer -dwell in the high mountains, as contrasted with those which bear and -rear their young in the low, broken hill-country. Along the Little -Missouri there was no regular or clearly defined migration of the -mule-deer in a mass. Some individuals, or groups of individuals, shifted -their quarters for a few miles, so that in the spring, for instance, a -particular district of a few square miles, in which they had been -abundant before, might be wholly without them. But there were other -districts, which happened to afford at all times sufficient food and -shelter, in which they were to be found the year round; and the animals -did not band and migrate as the prongbucks did in the same region. In -the immediate neighborhood of my ranch there were groups of high hills -containing springs of water, good grass, and an abundance of cedar, ash, -and all kinds of brush in which the mule-deer were permanent residents. -There were big dry creeks, with well-wooded bottoms, lying among rugged -hills, in which I have found whitetail and mule-deer literally within a -stone’s throw of one another. I once started from two adjoining pockets -in this particular creek two does, each with a fawn, one being a -mule-deer and the other a whitetail. On another occasion, on an early -spring afternoon, just before the fawns were born, I came upon a herd of -twenty whitetails, does, and young of the preceding year, grazing -greedily on the young grass; and half a mile up the creek, in an almost -exactly similar locality, I came upon just such a herd of mule-deer. In -each case the animals were so absorbed in the feasting, which was to -make up for their winter privations, that I was able to stalk to within -fifty yards, though of course I did not shoot. - -In northwestern Colorado the conditions are entirely different. -Throughout this region there are no whitetail and never have been, -although in the winter range of the mule-deer there are a few prongbuck; -and the wapiti once abounded. The mule-deer are still plentiful. They -make a complete migration summer and winter, so that in neither season -is a single individual to be found in the haunts they frequent during -the other season. In the summer they live and bring forth their young -high up in the main chain of the mountains, in a beautiful country of -northern forest growth, dotted with trout-filled brooks and clear lakes. -The snowfall is so deep in these wooded mountains that the deer would -run great risk of perishing if they stayed therein, and indeed could -only winter there at all in very small numbers. Accordingly, when the -storms begin in the fall, usually about the first of October, just -before the rut, the deer assemble in bands and move west and south to -the lower, drier country, where the rugged hills are here and there -clothed with an open growth of pinyon and cedar, instead of the tall -spruces and pines of the summer range. The migrating bands follow one -another along definite trails over mountains, through passes and -valleys, and across streams; and their winter range swarms with them a -few days after the forerunners have put in their appearance in what has -been, during the summer, an absolutely deerless country. - -In January and February, 1901, I spent five weeks north of the White -River, in northwestern Colorado. It was in the heart of the wintering -ground of the great Colorado mule-deer herd. Forty miles away to the -east, extending north, lay the high mountains in which these deer had -spent the summer. The winter range, in which I was at the time hunting -cougars, is a region of comparatively light snowfall, though the cold is -bitter. On several occasions during my stay the thermometer went down to -twenty degrees below zero. The hills, or low mountains, for it was -difficult to know which to call them, were steep and broken, and -separated by narrow flats covered with sage-brush. The ordinary trees -were the pinyon and cedar, which were scattered in rather open groves -over the mountain-sides and the spurs between the ravines. There were -also patches of quaking asp, scrub-oak, and brush. The entire country -was thinly covered with ranches, and there were huge pastures enclosed -by wire fences. I have never seen the mule-deer so numerous anywhere as -they were in this country at this time; although in 1883, on the Little -Missouri, they were almost as plentiful. There was not a day we did not -see scores, and on some days we saw hundreds. Frequently they were found -in small parties of two or three, or a dozen individuals, but on -occasions we saw bands of thirty or forty. Only rarely were they found -singly. The fawns were of course well grown, being eight or nine months -old, and long out of the spotted coat. They were still accompanying -their mothers. Ordinarily a herd would consist of does, fawns, and -yearlings, the latter carrying their first antlers. But it was not -possible to lay down a universal rule. Again and again I saw herds in -which there were one or two full-grown bucks associating with the -females and younger deer. At other times we came across small bands of -full-grown bucks by themselves, and occasionally a solitary buck. -Considering the extent to which these deer must have been persecuted, I -did not think them shy. We were hunting on horseback, and had hounds -with us, so we made no especial attempt to avoid noise. Yet very -frequently we would come close on the deer before they took alarm; and -even when alarmed they would sometimes trot slowly off, halting and -looking back. On one occasion, in some bad lands, we came upon four -bucks which had been sunning themselves on the face of a clay wall. They -jumped up and went off one at a time, very slowly, passing diagonally by -us, certainly not over seventy yards off. All four could have been shot -without effort, and as they had fine antlers I should certainly have -killed one, had it been the open season. - -When we came on these Colorado mule-deer suddenly, they generally -behaved exactly as their brethren used to in the old days on the Little -Missouri; that is, they would run off at a good speed for a hundred -yards or so, then slow up, halt, gaze inquisitively at us for some -seconds, and again take to flight. While the sun was strong they liked -to lie out in the low brush on slopes where they would get the full -benefit of the heat. During the heavy snow-storms they usually retreated -into some ravine where the trees grew thicker than usual, not stirring -until the weight of the storm was over. Most of the night, especially if -it was moonlight, they fed; but they were not at all regular about this. -I frequently saw them standing up and grazing, or more rarely browsing, -in the middle of the day, and in the late afternoon they often came down -to graze on the flats within view of the different ranch houses where I -happened to stop. The hours for feeding and resting, however, always -vary accordingly as the deer are or are not persecuted. In wild -localities I have again and again found these deer grazing at all hours -of the day, and coming to water at high noon; whereas, where they have -been much persecuted, they only begin to feed after dusk, and come to -water after dark. Of course during this winter weather they could get no -water, snow supplying its place. - -I was immensely interested with the way they got through the wire -fences. A mule-deer is a great jumper; I have known them to clear with -ease high timber corral fences surrounding hayricks. If the animals had -chosen, they could have jumped any of the wire fences I saw; yet never -in a single instance did I see one of them so jump a fence, nor did I -ever find in the tell-tale snow tracks which indicated their having done -so. They paid no heed whatever to the fences, so far as I could see, and -went through them at will; but they always got between the wires, or -went under the lowest wire. The dexterity with which they did this was -extraordinary. When alarmed they would run full speed toward a wire -fence, would pass through it, often hardly altering their stride, and -never making any marks in the snow which looked as though they had -crawled. Twice I saw bands thus go through a wire fence, once at speed, -the other time when they were not alarmed. On both occasions they were -too far off to allow me to see exactly their mode of procedure, but on -examining the snow where they had passed, there was not the slightest -mark of their bodies, and the alteration in their gait, as shown by the -footprints, was hardly perceptible. In one instance, however, where I -scared a young buck which ran over a hill and through a wire fence on -the other side, I found one of his antlers lying beside the fence, it -having evidently been knocked off by the wire. Their antlers were -getting very loose, and toward the end of our stay they had begun to -shed them. - -The deer were preyed on by many foes. Sportsmen and hide-hunters had -been busy during the fall migrations, and the ranchmen of the -neighborhood were shooting them occasionally for food, even when we were -out there. The cougars at this season were preying upon them practically -to the exclusion of everything else. We came upon one large fawn which -had been killed by a bobcat. The gray wolves were also preying upon -them. A party of these wolves can sometimes run down even an unwounded -blacktail; I have myself known of their performing this feat. Twice on -this very hunt we came across the carcasses of blacktail which had thus -been killed by wolves, and one of the cow-punchers at a ranch where we -were staying came in and reported to us that while riding among the -cattle that afternoon he had seen two coyotes run a young mule-deer to a -standstill, and they would without doubt have killed it had they not -been frightened by his approach. Still the wolf is very much less -successful than the cougar in killing these deer, and even the cougar -continually fails in his stalks. But the deer were so plentiful that at -this time all the cougars we killed were very fat, and evidently had no -difficulty in getting as much venison as they needed. The wolves were -not as well off, and now and then made forays on the young stock of the -ranchmen, which at this season the cougar let alone, reserving his -attention to them for the summer season when the deer had vanished. - -In the Big Horn Mountains, where I also saw a good deal of the -mule-deer, their habits were intermediate between those of the species -that dwell on the plains and those that dwell in the densely timbered -regions of the Rockies farther to the northwest. In the summer time they -lived high up on the plateaus of the Big Horn, sometimes feeding in the -open glades and sometimes in the pine forests. In the fall they browsed -on certain of the bushes almost exclusively. In winter they came down -into the low country. South of the Yellowstone Park, where the wapiti -swarmed, the mule-deer were not numerous. I believe that by choice they -prefer rugged, open country, and they certainly care comparatively -little for bad weather, as they will often visit bleak, wind-swept -ridges in midwinter, as being places where they can best get food at -that season, when the snow lies deep in the sheltered places. -Nevertheless, many of the species pass their whole life in thick timber. - -[Illustration: - - THE RANCH-HOUSE -] - -My chief opportunities for observing the mule-deer were in the eighties, -when I spent much of my time on my ranch on the Little Missouri. -Mule-deer were then very plentiful, and I killed more of them than of -all other game put together. At that time in the cattle country no -ranchman ever thought of killing beef, and if we had fresh meat at all -it was ordinarily venison. In the fall we usually tried to kill enough -deer to last out the winter. Until the settlers came in, the Little -Missouri country was an ideal range for mule-deer, and they fairly -swarmed; while elk were also plentiful, and the restless herds of the -buffalo surged at intervals through the land. After 1882 and 1883 the -buffalo and elk were killed out, the former completely, and the latter -practically, and by that time the skin-hunters, and then the ranchers, -turned their attention chiefly to the mule-deer. It lived in open -country where there was cover for the stalker, and so it was much easier -to kill than either the whitetail, which was found in the dense cover of -the river bottoms, or the prongbuck, which was found far back from the -river, on the flat prairies where there was no cover at all. I have been -informed of other localities in which the antelope has disappeared long -before the mule-deer, and I believe that in the Rockies the mule-deer -has a far better chance of survival than the antelope has on the plains; -but on the Little Missouri the antelope continued plentiful long after -the mule-deer had become decidedly scarce. In 1886 I think the antelope -were fully as abundant as ever they were, while the mule-deer had -woefully diminished. In the early nineties there were still regions -within thirty or forty miles of my ranch where the antelope were very -plentiful—far more so than the mule-deer were at that time. Now they are -both scarce along the Little Missouri, and which will outlast the other -I cannot say. - -In the old days, as I have already said, it was by no means infrequent -to see both the whitetail and the mule-deer close together, and when, -under such circumstances, they were alarmed, one got a clear idea of the -extraordinary gait which is the mule-deer’s most striking -characteristic. It trots well, gallops if hard pressed, and is a good -climber, though much inferior to the mountain sheep. But its normal gait -consists of a series of stiff-legged bounds, all four feet leaving and -striking the ground at the same time. This gait differs more from the -gait of bighorn, prongbuck, whitetail, and wapiti than the gaits of -these latter animals differ among themselves. The wapiti, for instance, -rarely gallops, but when he does, it is a gallop of the ordinary type. -The prongbuck runs with a singularly even gait; whereas the whitetail -makes great bounds, some much higher than others. But fundamentally in -all cases the action is the same, and has no resemblance to the -stiff-legged buck jumping which is the ordinary means of progression of -the mule-deer. These jumps carry it not only on the level, but up and -down hill at a great speed. It is said to be a tiresome gait for the -animal, if hunted for any length of time on the level; but of this I -cannot speak with full knowledge. - -Compared to the wapiti, the mule-deer, like our other small deer, is a -very silent animal. For a long time I believed it uttered no sound -beyond the snort of alarm and the rare bleat of the doe to her fawn; but -one afternoon I heard two bucks grunting or barking at one another in a -ravine back of the ranch-house, and crept up and shot them. I was still -uncertain whether this was an indication of a regular habit; but a -couple of years later, on a moonlight night just after sunset, I heard a -big buck travelling down a ravine and continually barking, evidently as -a love challenge. I have been informed by some hunters that the bucks at -the time of the rut not infrequently thus grunt and bark; but most -hunters are ignorant of this habit; and it is certainly not a common -practice. - -The species is not nearly as gregarious as the wapiti or caribou. During -the winter the bucks are generally found singly, or in small parties by -themselves, although occasionally one will associate with a party of -does and of young deer. When in May or June—for the exact time varies -with the locality—the doe brings forth her young, she retires to some -lonely thicket. Sometimes one and sometimes two fawns are brought forth. -They lie very close for the first few days. I have picked them up and -handled them without their making the slightest effort to escape, while -the mother hung about a few hundred yards off. On one occasion I by -accident surprised a doe in the very act of giving birth to two fawns. -One had just been born and the other was born as the doe made her first -leap away. She ran off with as much speed and unconcern as if nothing -whatever had happened. I passed on immediately, lest she should be so -frightened as not to come back to the fawns. It has happened that where -I have found the newly born fawns I have invariably found the doe to be -entirely alone, but her young of the previous year must sometimes at -least be in the neighborhood, for a little later I have frequently seen -the doe and her fawn or fawns, and either one or two young of the -previous year, together. Often, however, these young deer will be alone, -or associated with an older doe which is barren. The bucks at the same -time go to secluded places; sometimes singly, while sometimes an old -buck will be accompanied by a younger one, or a couple of old bucks will -lie together. They move about as little as possible while their horns -are growing, and if a hunter comes by, they will lie far closer than at -any other time of the year, squatting in the dense thickets as if they -were whitetails. - -When in the Bad Lands of the Western Dakotas the late September breezes -grow cold, then the bucks, their horns already clean of velvet which -they have thrashed off on the bushes and saplings, feel their necks -begin to swell; and early in October—sometimes not until November—they -seek the does. The latter, especially the younger ones, at first flee in -frantic haste. As the rut goes on the bucks become ever bolder and more -ardent. Not only do they chase the does by night, but also by day. I -have sat on the side of a ravine in the Bad Lands at noon and seen a -young doe race past me as if followed by a wolf. When she was out of -sight a big buck appeared on her trail, following it by scent, also at -speed. When he had passed I got up, and the motion frightened a younger -buck which was following two or three hundred yards in the rear of the -big one. After a while the doe yields, and the buck then accompanies -her. If, however, it is early in the season, he may leave her entirely -in order to run after another doe. Later in the season he will have a -better chance of adding the second doe to his harem, or of robbing -another buck of the doe or does which he has accumulated. I have often -seen merely one doe and one buck together, and I have often seen a -single doe which for several days was accompanied by several bucks, one -keeping off the others. But generally the biggest bucks collect each for -himself several does, yearlings also being allowed in the band. The -exact amount of companionship with the does allowed these young bucks -depends somewhat upon the temper of the master buck. In books by -imperfectly informed writers we often see allusions to the buck as -protecting the doe, or even taking care of the fawn. Charles Dudley -Warner, for instance, in describing with great skill and pathos an -imaginary deer hunt, after portraying the death of the doe, portrays the -young fawn as following the buck when the latter comes back to it in the -evening.[4] As a matter of fact, while the fawn is so young as to be -wholly dependent upon the doe, the buck never comes near either. -Moreover, during the period when the buck and the doe are together, the -buck’s attitude is merely that of a brutal, greedy, and selfish tyrant. -He will unhesitatingly rob the doe of any choice bit of food, and though -he will fight to keep her if another buck approaches, the moment that a -dangerous foe appears his one thought is for his own preservation. He -will not only desert the doe, but if he is an old and cunning buck, he -will try his best to sacrifice her by diverting the attention of the -pursuer to her and away from him. - -Footnote 4: - - While the situation thus described was an impossible one, the purpose - of Mr. Warner’s article was excellent, it being intended as a protest - against hunting deer while the fawns are young, and against killing - them in the water. - -By the end of the rut the old bucks are often exhausted, their sides are -thin, their necks swollen; though they are never as gaunt as wapiti -bulls at this time. They then rest as much as possible, feeding all the -time to put on fat before winter arrives, and rapidly attaining a very -high condition. - -Except in dire need no one would kill a deer after the hard weather of -winter begins or before the antlers of the buck are full-grown and the -fawns are out of the spotted coat. Even in the old days we, who lived in -the ranch country, always tried to avoid killing deer in the spring or -early summer, though we often shot buck antelope at those times. The -close season for deer varies in different States, and now there is -generally a limit set to the number any one hunter can kill; for the old -days of wasteful plenty are gone forever. - -To my mind there is a peculiar fascination in hunting the mule-deer. By -the time the hunting season has arrived the buck is no longer the -slinking beast of the thicket, but a bold and yet wary dweller in the -uplands. Frequently he can be found clear of all cover, often at midday, -and his habits at this season are, from the hunter’s standpoint, rather -more like those of the wapiti than of the whitetail; but each band, -though continually shifting its exact position, stays permanently in the -same tract of country, whereas wapiti are apt to wander. - -In the old days, when mule-deer were plentiful in country through which -a horse could go at a fair rate of speed, it was common for the hunter -to go on horseback, and not to dismount save at the moment of the shot. -In the early eighties, while on my ranch on the Little Missouri, this -was the way in which I usually hunted. When I first established my ranch -I often went out, in the fall, after the day’s work was over, and killed -a deer before dark. If it was in September, I would sometimes start -after supper. Later in the year I would take supper when I got back. -Under such circumstances my mode of procedure was simple. Deer were -plentiful. Every big tangle of hills, every set of grassy coulees -winding down to a big creek bottom, was sure to contain them. The time -being short, with at most only an hour or two of light, I made no effort -to find the tracks of a deer or to spy one afar off. I simply rode -through the likely places, across the heads of the ravines or down the -winding valleys, until I jumped a deer close enough up to give me a -shot. The unshod hoofs of the horse made but little noise as he shuffled -along at the regular cow-pony fox trot, and I kept him close into the -bank or behind cover, so as to come around each successive point without -warning. If the ground was broken and rugged, I made no attempt to go -fast. If, on the other hand, I struck a smooth ravine with gentle -curves, I would often put the pony to a sharp canter or gallop, so as to -come quickly on any deer before it could quite make up its mind what -course was best to follow. Sooner or later, as I passed a thick clump of -young ash or buck brush, or came abruptly around a sharp bend, there -would be a snort, and then the thud, thud, thud, of four hoofs striking -the ground exactly in unison, and away would go a mule-deer with the -peculiar bounding motion of its kind. The pony, well accustomed to the -work, stopped short, and I was off its back in an instant. If the deer -had not made out exactly what I was, it would often show by its gait -that it was not yet prepared to run straight out of sight. Under such -circumstances I would wait until it stopped and turned round to look -back. If it was going very fast, I took the shot running. Once I put up -a young buck from some thick brush in the bottom of a winding washout. I -leaped off the pony, standing within ten yards of the washout. The buck -went up a hill on my left, and as he reached the top and paused for a -second on the sky-line, I fired. At the shot there was a great -scrambling and crashing in the washout below me, and another and larger -buck came out and tore off in frantic haste. I fired several shots at -him, finally bringing him down. Meanwhile, the other buck had -disappeared, but there was blood on his trail, and I found him lying -down in the next coulee, and finished him. This was not much over a mile -from the ranch-house, and after dressing the deer, I put one behind the -saddle and one on it, and led the pony home. - -Such hunting, though great fun, does not imply any particular skill -either in horsemanship, marksmanship, or plains-craft and knowledge of -the animal’s habits; and it can of course be followed only where the -game is very plentiful. Ordinarily the mule-deer must be killed by long -tramping among the hills, skilful stalking, and good shooting. The -successful hunter should possess good eyes, good wind, and good muscles. -He should know how to take cover and how to use his rifle. The work is -sufficiently rough to test any man’s endurance, and yet there is no such -severe and intense toil as in following true mountain game, like the -bighorn or white goat. As the hunter’s one aim is to see the deer before -it sees him, he can only use the horse to take him to the -hunting-ground. Then he must go through the most likely ground and from -every point of vantage scan with minute care the landscape round about, -while himself unseen. If the country is wild and the deer have not been -much molested, he will be apt to come across a band that is feeding. -Under such circumstances it is easy to see them at once. But if lying -down, it is astonishing how the gray of their winter coats fits in with -the color of their surroundings. Too often I have looked carefully over -a valley with my glasses until, thinking I had searched every nook, I -have risen and gone forward, only to see a deer rise and gallop off out -of range from some spot which I certainly thought I had examined with -all possible precaution. If the hunter is not himself hidden, he will -have his labor for his pains. Neither the mule-deer nor the whitetail is -by any means as keen-sighted as the pronghorn antelope, and men -accustomed chiefly to antelope shooting are quite right in speaking of -the sight of deer as poor by comparison. But this is only by comparison. -A motionless object does not attract the deer’s gaze as it attracts the -telescopic eye of a prongbuck; but any motion is seen at once, and as -soon as this has occurred, the chances of the hunter are usually at an -end. On the other hand, from the nature of its haunts the mule-deer -usually offers fairly good opportunities for stalking. It is not as big -or as valuable as the elk, and therefore it is not as readily seen or as -eagerly followed, and in consequence holds its own better. But though -the sport it yields calls normally for a greater amount of hardihood and -endurance in the hunter than is the case with the sport yielded by the -prongbuck, and especially by the whitetail, yet when existing in like -numbers it is easier to kill than either of these two animals. - -Sometimes in the early fall, when hunting from the ranch, I have spent -the night in some likely locality, sleeping rolled up in a blanket on -the ground so as to be ready to start at the first streak of dawn. On -one such occasion a couple of mule-deer came to where my horse was -picketed just before I got up. I heard them snort or whistle, and very -slowly unwrapped myself from the blanket, turned over, and crawled out, -rifle in hand. Overhead the stars were paling in the faint gray light, -but the ravine in which the deer were was still so black that, watch as -I would, I could not see them. I feared to move around lest I might -disturb them, but after wiggling toward a little jutting shoulder I lay -still to wait for the light. They went off, however, while it was still -too dusk to catch more than their dim and formless outlines, and though -I followed them as rapidly and cautiously as possible, I never got a -shot at them. On other occasions fortune has favored me, and before the -sun rose I have spied some buck leisurely seeking his day bed, and have -been able either to waylay him or make a running stalk on him from -behind. - -[Illustration: - - THE RANCH VERANDA -] - -In the old days it was the regular thing with most ranchmen to take a -trip in the fall for the purpose of laying in the winter’s supply of -venison. I frequently took such trips myself, and though occasionally we -killed wapiti, bighorn, prongbuck, and whitetail, our ordinary game was -the mule-deer. Around my ranch it was not necessary to go very far. A -day’s journey with the wagon would usually take us to where a week’s -hunting would enable us to return with a dozen deer or over. If there -was need of more, I would repeat the hunt later on. I have several times -killed three of these deer in a day, but I do not now recall ever -killing a greater number. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that every -scrap of flesh was used. - -These hunts were always made late in the fall, usually after the close -of the rut. The deer were then banded, and were commonly found in -parties of from three or four to a score, although the big bucks might -be lying by themselves. The weather was apt to be cold, and the deer -evidently liked to sun themselves, so that at midday they could be found -lying sometimes in thin brush and sometimes boldly out on the face of a -cliff or hill. If they were unmolested, they would feed at intervals -throughout the day, and not until the bands had been decimated by -excessive hunting did they ever spend the hours of daylight in hiding. - -On such a hunt our proceedings were simple. The nights were longer than -the days, and therefore we were away from camp at the first streak of -dawn, and might not return until long after darkness. All the time -between was spent in climbing and walking through the rugged hills, -keeping a sharp lookout for our game. Only too often we were seen before -we ourselves saw the quarry, and even when this was not the case the -stalks were sometimes failures. Still blank days were not very common. -Probably every hunter remembers with pride some particular stalk. I -recall now outwitting a big buck which I had seen and failed to get on -two successive days. He was hanging about a knot of hills with brush on -their shoulders, and was not only very watchful, but when he lay down -always made his bed at the lower end of a brush patch, whence he could -see into the valley below, while it was impossible to approach him from -above, through the brush, without giving the alarm. On the third day I -saw him early in the morning, while he was feeding. He was very -watchful, and I made no attempt to get near him, simply peeping at him -until he finally went into a patch of thin brush and lay down. As I knew -what he was I could distinctly make him out. If I had not seen him go -in, I certainly never would have imagined that he was a deer, even had -my eyes been able to pick him out at all among the gray shadows and -small dead tree-tops. Having waited until he was well settled down, I -made a very long turn and came up behind him, only to find that the -direction of the wind and the slope of the hill rendered it an absolute -impossibility to approach him unperceived. After careful study of the -ground I abandoned the effort, and returned to my former position, -having spent several hours of considerable labor in vain. It was now -about noon, and I thought I would lie still to see what he would do when -he got up, and accordingly I ate my lunch stretched at full length in -the long grass which sheltered me from the wind. From time to time I -peered cautiously between two stones toward where the buck lay. It was -nearly mid-afternoon before he moved. Sometimes mule-deer rise with a -single motion, all four legs unbending like springs, so that the four -hoofs touch the ground at once. This old buck, however, got up very -slowly, looked about for certainly five minutes, and then came directly -down the hill and toward me. When he had nearly reached the bottom of -the valley between us he turned to the right and sauntered rapidly down -it. I slipped back and trotted as fast as I could without losing my -breath along the hither side of the spur which lay between me and the -buck. While I was out of sight he had for some reason made up his mind -to hurry, and when I was still fifty yards from the end of the spur he -came in sight just beyond it, passing at a swinging trot. I dropped on -one knee so quickly that for a moment he evidently could not tell what I -was—my buckskin shirt and gray slouch-hat fading into the color of the -background—and halted, looking sharply around. Before he could break -into flight my bullet went through his shoulders. - -Twice I have killed two of these deer at a shot; once two bucks, and -once a doe and a buck. - -It has proved difficult to keep the mule-deer in captivity, even in -large private parks or roomy zoological gardens. I think this is because -hitherto the experiment has been tried east of the Mississippi in an -alien habitat. The wapiti and whitetail are species that are at home -over most of the United States, East and West, in rank, wet prairies, -dense woodland, and dry mountain regions alike; but the mule-deer has a -far more sharply localized distribution. In the Bronx Zoological -Gardens, in New York, Mr. Hornaday informs me that he has comparatively -little difficulty in keeping up the stock alike of wapiti and whitetail -by breeding—as indeed any visitor can see for himself. The same is true -in the game preserves in the wilder regions of New York and New England; -but hitherto the mule-deer has offered an even more difficult problem in -captivity than the pronghorn antelope. Doubtless the difficulty would be -minimized if the effort at domestication were made in the neighborhood -of the Rocky Mountains. - -The true way to preserve the mule-deer, however, as well as our other -game, is to establish on the nation’s property great nurseries and -wintering grounds, such as the Yellowstone Park, and then to secure fair -play for the deer outside these grounds by a wisely planned and -faithfully executed series of game laws. This is the really democratic -method of solving the problem. Occasionally even yet some one will -assert that the game “belongs to the people, and should be given over to -them”—meaning, thereby, that there should be no game laws, and that -every man should be at liberty indiscriminately to kill every kind of -wild animal, harmless, useless, or noxious, until the day when our woods -become wholly bereft of all the forms of higher animal life. Such an -argument can only be made from the standpoint of those big game dealers -in the cities who care nothing for the future, and desire to make money -at the present day by a slaughter which in the last analysis only -benefits the wealthy people who are able to pay for the game; for once -the game has been destroyed, the livelihood of the professional gunner -will be taken away. Most emphatically wild game not on private property -_does_ belong to the people, and the only way in which the people can -secure their ownership is by protecting it in the interest of all -against the vandal few. As we grow older I think most of us become less -keen about that part of the hunt which consists in the killing. I know -that as far as I am concerned I have long gone past the stage when the -chief end of a hunting trip was the bag. One or two bucks, or enough -grouse and trout to keep the camp supplied, will furnish all the sport -necessary to give zest and point to a trip in the wilderness. When -hunters proceed on such a plan they do practically no damage to the -game. Those who are not willing to act along these lines of their own -free will, should be made to by the State. The people of Montana, -Wyoming, and Colorado, and of the States near by, can do a real service, -primarily to themselves, but secondarily to others also, by framing and -executing laws which will keep these noble deer as permanent denizens of -their lofty mountains and beautiful valleys. There are other things much -more important than game laws; but it will be a great mistake to -imagine, because until recently in Europe game laws have been -administered in the selfish interest of one class and against the -interest of the people as a whole, that here in this country, and under -our institutions, they would not be beneficial to all of our people. So -far from game laws being in the interest of the few, they are -emphatically in the interest of the many. The very rich man can stock a -private game preserve, or journey afar off to where game is still -plentiful; but it is only where the game is carefully preserved by the -State that the man of small means has any chance to enjoy the keen -delight of the chase. - -There are many sides to the charm of big game hunting; nor should it be -regarded as being without its solid advantages from the standpoint of -national character. Always in our modern life, the life of a highly -complex industrialism, there is a tendency to softening of fibre. This -is true of our enjoyments; and it is no less true of very many of our -business occupations. It is not true of such work as railroading, a -purely modern development, nor yet of work like that of those who man -the fishing fleets; but it is preeminently true of all occupations which -cause men to lead sedentary lives in great cities. For these men it is -especially necessary to provide hard and rough play. Of course, if such -play is made a serious business, the result is very bad; but this does -not in the least affect the fact that within proper limits the play -itself is good. Vigorous athletic sports carried on in a sane spirit are -healthy. The hardy out-of-door sports of the wilderness are even -healthier. It is a mere truism to say that the qualities developed by -the hunter are the qualities needed by the soldier; and a curious -feature of the changed conditions of modern warfare is that they call, -to a much greater extent than during the two or three centuries -immediately past, for the very qualities of individual initiative, -ability to live and work in the open, and personal skill in the -management of horse and weapons, which are fostered by a hunter’s life. -No training in the barracks or on the parade-ground is as good as the -training given by a hard hunting trip in which a man really does the -work for himself, learns to face emergencies, to study country, to -perform feats of hardihood, to face exposure and undergo severe labor. -It is an excellent thing for any man to be a good horseman and a good -marksman, to be bold and hardy, and wonted to feats of strength and -endurance, to be able to live in the open, and to feel a self-reliant -readiness in any crisis. Big game hunting tends to produce or develop -exactly these physical and moral traits. To say that it may be pursued -in a manner or to an extent which is demoralizing, is but to say what -can likewise be said of all other pastimes and of almost all kinds of -serious business. That it can be abused either in the way in which it is -done, or the extent to which it is carried, does not alter the fact that -it is in itself a sane and healthy recreation. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - THE WAPITI, OR ROUND-HORNED ELK - - -The wapiti is the largest and stateliest deer in the world. A full-grown -bull is as big as a steer. The antlers are the most magnificent trophies -yielded by any game animal of America, save the giant Alaskan moose. -When full-grown they are normally of twelve tines; frequently the tines -are more numerous, but the increase in their number has no necessary -accompaniment in increase in the size of the antlers. The length, -massiveness, roughness, spread, and symmetry of the antlers must all be -taken into account in rating the value of a head. Antlers over fifty -inches in length are large; if over sixty, they are gigantic. Good heads -are getting steadily rarer under the persecution which has thinned out -the herds. - -Next to the bison the wapiti is of all the big game animals of North -America the one whose range has most decreased. Originally it was found -from the Pacific coast east across the Alleghanies, through New York to -the Adirondacks, through Pennsylvania into western New Jersey, and far -down into the mid-country of Virginia and the Carolinas. It extended -northward into Canada, from the Great Lakes to Vancouver; and southward -into Mexico, along the Rockies. Its range thus corresponded roughly with -that of the bison, except that it went farther west and not so far -north. In the early colonial days so little heed was paid by writers to -the teeming myriads of game that it is difficult to trace the wapiti’s -distribution in the Atlantic coast region. It was certainly killed out -of the Adirondacks long before the period when the backwoodsmen were -settling the valleys of the Alleghany Mountains; there they found the -elk abundant, and the stately creatures roamed in great bands over -Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana when the first settlers made -their way into what are now these States, at the outbreak of the -Revolution. These first settlers were all hunters, and they followed the -wapiti (or, as they always called it, the elk) with peculiar eagerness. -In consequence its numbers were soon greatly thinned, and about the -beginning of the present century it disappeared from that portion of its -former range lying south of the Great Lakes and between the Alleghanies -and the Mississippi. In the northern Alleghanies it held its own much -longer, the last individual of which I have been able to get record -having been killed in Pennsylvania in 1869. In the forests of northern -Wisconsin, northern Michigan, and Minnesota wapiti existed still longer, -and a very few individuals may still be found. A few are left in -Manitoba. When Lewis and Clark and Pike became the pioneers among the -explorers, army officers, hunters, and trappers who won for our people -the great West, they found countless herds of wapiti throughout the high -plains country from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. -Throughout this region it was exterminated almost as rapidly as the -bison, and by the early eighties there only remained a few scattered -individuals, in bits of rough country such as the Black Hills, the -sand-hills of Nebraska, and certain patches of Bad Lands along the -Little Missouri. Doubtless stragglers exist even yet in one or two of -these localities. But by the time the great buffalo herds of the plains -were completely exterminated, in 1883, the wapiti had likewise ceased to -be a plains animal; the peculiar Californian form had also been -well-nigh exterminated. - -The nature of its favorite haunts was the chief factor in causing it to -suffer more than any other game in America, save the bison, from the -persecution of hunters and settlers. The boundaries of its range have -shrunk in far greater proportion than in the case of any of our other -game animals, save only the great wild ox, with which it was once so -commonly associated. The moose, a beast of the forest, and the caribou, -which, save in the far North, is also a beast of the forest, have in -most places greatly diminished in numbers, and have here and there been -exterminated altogether from outlying portions of their range; but the -wapiti, which, when free to choose, preferred to frequent the plains and -open woods, has completely vanished from nine-tenths of the territory -over which it roamed a century and a quarter ago. Although it was never -found in any one place in such enormous numbers as the bison and the -caribou, it nevertheless went in herds far larger than the herds of any -other American game save the two mentioned, and was formerly very much -more abundant within the area of its distribution than was the moose -within the area of its distribution. - -This splendid deer affords a good instance of the difficulty of deciding -what name to use in treating of our American game. On the one hand, it -is entirely undesirable to be pedantic; and on the other hand, it seems -a pity, at a time when speech is written almost as much as spoken, to -use terms which perpetually require explanation in order to avoid -confusion. The wapiti is not properly an elk at all; the term wapiti is -unexceptionable, and it is greatly to be desired that it should be -generally adopted. But unfortunately it has not been generally adopted. -From the time when our backwoodsmen first began to hunt the animal among -the foothills of the Appalachian chains to the present day, it has been -universally known as elk wherever it has been found. In ordinary speech -it is never known as anything else, and only an occasional settler or -hunter would understand what the word wapiti referred to. The book name -is a great deal better than the common name; but after all, it is only a -book name. The case is almost exactly parallel to that of the buffalo, -which was really a bison, but which lived as the buffalo, died as the -buffalo, and left its name imprinted on our landscape as the buffalo. -There is little use in trying to upset a name which is imprinted in our -geography in hundreds of such titles as Elk Ridge, Elk Mountain, Elkhorn -River. Yet in the books it is often necessary to call it the wapiti in -order to distinguish it both from its differently named close kinsfolk -of the Old World, and from its more distant relatives with which it -shares the name of elk. - -Disregarding the Pacific coast form of Vancouver and the Olympian -Mountains, the wapiti is now a beast of the Rocky Mountain region -proper, especially in western Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Throughout -these mountains its extermination, though less rapid than on the plains, -has nevertheless gone on with melancholy steadiness. In the early -nineties it was still as abundant as ever in large regions in western -Wyoming and Montana and northwestern Colorado. In northwestern Colorado -the herds are now represented by only a few hundred individuals. In -western Montana they are scattered over a wider region and are protected -by the denser timber, but are nowhere plentiful. They have nearly -vanished from the Big Horn Mountains. They are still abundant in and -around their great nursery and breeding-ground, the Yellowstone National -Park. If this park could be extended so as to take in part of the winter -range to the south, it would help to preserve them, to the delight of -all lovers of nature, and to the great pecuniary benefit of the people -of Wyoming and Montana. But at present the winter range south of the -park is filling up with settlers, and unless the conditions change, -those among the Yellowstone wapiti which would normally go south will -more and more be compelled to winter among the mountains, which will -mean such immense losses from starvation and deep snow that the southern -herds will be woefully thinned.[5] Surely all men who care for nature, -no less than all men who care for big game hunting, should combine to -try to see that not merely the States but the Federal authorities make -every effort, and are given every power, to prevent the extermination of -this stately and beautiful animal, the lordliest of the deer kind in the -entire world. - -Footnote 5: - - Steps in the direction indicated are now being taken by the Federal - authorities. - -The wapiti, like the bison, and even more than the whitetail deer, can -thrive in widely varying surroundings. It is at home among the high -mountains, in the deep forests, and on the treeless, level plains. It is -rather omnivorous in its tastes, browsing and grazing on all kinds of -trees, shrubs and grasses. These traits, and its hardihood, make it -comparatively easy to perpetuate in big parks and forest preserves in a -semi-wild condition; and it has thriven in such preserves and parks in -many of the Eastern States. As it does not, by preference, dwell in such -tangled forests as are the delight of the moose and the whitetail deer, -it vanishes much quicker than either when settlers appear in the land. -In the mountains and foothills its habitat is much the same as that of -the mule-deer, the two animals being often found in the immediate -neighborhood of each other. In such places the superior size and value -of the wapiti put it at a disadvantage in the keen struggle for life, -and when the rifle-bearing hunter appears upon the scene, it is killed -out long before its smaller kinsman. - -Moreover, the wapiti is undoubtedly subject to queer freaks of panic -stupidity, or what seems like a mixture of tameness and of puzzled -terror. At these times a herd will remain almost motionless, the -individuals walking undecidedly to and fro, and neither flinching nor -giving any other sign even when hit with a bullet. In the old days it -was not uncommon for a professional hunter to destroy an entire herd of -wapiti when one of these fits of confusion was on them. Even nowadays -they sometimes behave in this way. In 1897, Mr. Ansley Wilcox, of -Buffalo, was hunting in the Teton basin. He came across a small herd of -wapiti, the first he had ever seen, and opened fire when a hundred and -fifty yards distant. They paid no heed to the shots, and after taking -three or four at one bull, with seemingly no effect, he ran in closer -and emptied his magazine at another, also seemingly without effect, -before the herd slowly disappeared. After a few rods, both bulls fell; -and on examination it was found that all nine bullets had hit them. - -To my mind, the venison of the wapiti is, on the whole, better than that -of any other wild game, though its fat, when cooled, at once hardens, -like mutton tallow. - -In its life habits the wapiti differs somewhat from its smaller -relatives. It is far more gregarious, and is highly polygamous. During -the spring, while the bulls are growing their great antlers, and while -the cows have very young calves, both bulls and cows live alone, each -individual for itself. At such time each seeks the most secluded -situation, often going very high up on the mountains. Occasionally a -couple of bulls lie together, moving around as little as possible. The -cow at this time realizes that her calf’s chance of life depends upon -her absolute seclusion, and avoids all observation. - -As the horns begin to harden the bulls thrash the velvet off against -quaking asp, or ash, or even young spruce, splintering and battering the -bushes and small trees. The cows and calves begin to assemble; the bulls -seek them. But the bulls do not run the cows as among the smaller deer -the bucks run the does. The time of the beginning of the rut varies in -different places, but it usually takes place in September, about a month -earlier than that of the deer in the same locality. The necks of the -bulls swell and they challenge incessantly, for, unlike the smaller -deer, they are very noisy. Their love and war calls, when heard at a -little distance amid the mountains, have a most musical sound. -Frontiersmen usually speak of their call as “whistling,” which is not an -appropriate term. The call may be given in a treble or in a bass, but -usually consists of two or three bars, first rising and then falling, -followed by a succession of grunts. The grunts can only be heard when -close up. There can be no grander or more attractive chorus than the -challenging of a number of wapiti bulls when two great herds happen to -approach one another under the moonlight or in the early dawn. The -pealing notes echo through the dark valleys as if from silver bugles, -and the air is filled with the wild music. Where little molested the -wapiti challenge all day long. - -They can be easiest hunted during the rut, the hunter placing them, and -working up to them, by the sound alone. The bulls are excessively -truculent and pugnacious. Each big one gathers a herd of cows about him -and drives all possible rivals away from his immediate neighborhood, -although sometimes spike bulls are allowed to remain with the herd. -Where wapiti are very abundant, however, many of these herds may join -together and become partially welded into a mass that may contain -thousands of animals. In the old days such huge herds were far from -uncommon, especially during the migrations; but nowadays there only -remain one or two localities in which wapiti are sufficiently plentiful -ever to come together in bands of any size. The bulls are incessantly -challenging and fighting one another, and driving around the cows and -calves. Each keeps the most jealous watch over his own harem, treating -its members with great brutality, and is selfishly indifferent to their -fate the instant he thinks his own life in jeopardy. During the rut the -erotic manifestations of the bull are extraordinary. - -[Illustration: - - THE PACK-TRAIN -] - -One or two fawns are born about May. In the mountains the cow usually -goes high up to bring forth her fawn. Personally I have only had a -chance to observe the wapiti in spring in the neighborhood of my ranch -in the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri. Here the cow invariably -selected some wild, lonely bit of very broken country in which there -were dense thickets and some water. There was one such patch some -fifteen miles from my ranch, in which for many years wapiti regularly -bred. The breeding cow lay by herself, although sometimes the young of -the preceding year would lurk in the neighborhood. For the first few -days the calf hardly left the bed, and would not move even when handled. -Then it began to follow the mother. In this particular region the grass -was coarse and rank, save for a few patches in the immediate -neighborhood of little alkali springs. Accordingly, it was not much -visited by the cattle or by the cowboys. Doubtless in the happier days -of the past, when man was merely an infrequent interloper, the wapiti -cows had made their nurseries in pleasanter and more fruitful valleys. -But in my time the hunted creatures had learned that their only chance -was to escape observation. I have known not only cows with young calves, -but cows when the calves were out of the spotted coat, and even -yearlings, to try to escape by hiding—the great beasts lying like -rabbits in some patch of thick brush, while I rode close by. The best -hunting horse I ever had, old Manitou, in addition to his other useful -qualities, would serve as a guard on such occasions. I would leave him -on a little hillock to one side of such a patch of brush, and as he -walked slowly about, grazing and rattling his bridle chains, he would -prevent the wapiti breaking cover on that side, and give me an -additional chance of slipping around toward them—although if the animal -was a cow, I never molested it unless in dire need of meat. - -Most of my elk-hunting was done among the stupendous mountain masses of -the Rockies, which I usually reached after a long journey, with wagon or -pack-train, over the desolate plains. Ordinarily I planned to get to the -hunting-ground by the end of August, so as to have ample time. By that -date the calves were out of the spotted coat, the cows and the young of -the preceding year had banded, and the big bulls had come down to join -them from the remote recesses in which they had been lying, solitary or -in couples, while their antlers were growing. Many bulls were found -alone, or, if young, in small parties; but the normal arrangement was -for each big bull to have his own harem, around the outskirts of which -there were to be found lurking occasional spike bulls or two-year-olds -who were always venturing too near and being chased off by the master -bull. Frequently several such herds joined together into a great band. -Before the season was fairly on, when the bulls had not been worked into -actual frenzy, there was not much fighting in these bands. Later they -were the scenes of desperate combats. Each master bull strove to keep -his harem under his own eyes, and was always threatening and fighting -the other master bulls, as well as those bulls whose prowess had proved -insufficient hitherto to gain them a band, or who, after having gained -one, had been so exhausted and weakened as to succumb to some new -aspirant for the leadership. The bulls were calling and challenging all -the time, and there was ceaseless turmoil, owing to their fights and -their driving the cows around. The cows were more wary than the bulls, -and there were so many keen noses and fairly good eyes that it was -difficult to approach a herd; whereas the single bulls were so noisy, -careless, and excited that it was comparatively easy to stalk them. A -rutting wapiti bull is as wicked-looking a creature as can be imagined, -swaggering among the cows and threatening the young bulls, his jaws -mouthing and working in a kind of ugly leer. - -The bulls fight desperately with one another. The two combatants come -together with a resounding clash of antlers, and then push and strain -with their mouths open. The skin on their necks and shoulders is so -thick and tough that the great prongs cannot get through or do more than -inflict bruises. The only danger comes when the beaten party turns to -flee. The victor pursues at full speed. Usually the beaten one gets off; -but if by accident he is caught where he cannot escape, he is very apt -to be gored in the flank and killed. Mr. Baillie-Grohman has given a -very interesting description of one such fatal duel of which he was an -eye-witness on a moonlight night in the mountains. I have never known of -the bull trying to protect the cow from any enemy. He battles for her -against rivals with intense ferocity; but his attitude toward her, once -she is gained, is either that of brutality or of indifference. She will -fight for her calf against any enemy which she thinks she has a chance -of conquering, although of course not against man. But the bull leaves -his family to their fate the minute he thinks there is any real danger. -During the rut he is greatly excited, and does not fear a dog or a -single wolf, and may join with the rest of the herd of both sexes in -trying to chase off one or the other, should he become aware of its -approach. But if there is serious danger, his only thought is for -himself, and he has no compunctions about sacrificing any of his family. -When on the move a cow almost always goes first, while the bull brings -up the rear. - -In domestication the bulls are very dangerous to human beings, and will -kill a man at once if they can get him at a disadvantage; but in a state -of nature they rarely indeed overcome their abject terror of humanity, -even when wounded and cornered. Of course, if the man comes straight up -to him where he cannot get away, a wapiti will fight as, under like -circumstances, a blacktail or whitetail will fight, and equally, of -course, he is then far more dangerous than his smaller kinsfolk; but he -is not nearly so apt to charge as a bull moose. I have never known but -two authentic instances of their thus charging. One happened to a hunter -named Bennett, on the Little Missouri; the other to a gentleman I met, a -doctor, in Meeker, Colorado. The doctor had wounded his wapiti, and as -it was in the late fall, followed him easily in the snow. Finally he -came upon the wapiti standing where the snow was very deep at the bottom -of a small valley, and on his approach the wapiti deliberately started -to break his way through the snow toward him, and had almost reached him -when he was killed. But for every one such instance of a wapiti’s -charging there are a hundred in which a bull moose has charged. Senator -Redfield Proctor was charged most resolutely by a mortally hurt bull -moose which fell in the death throes just before reaching him; and I -could cite case after case of the kind. - -The wapiti’s natural gaits are a walk and a trot. It walks very fast -indeed, especially if travelling to reach some given point. More than -once I have sought to overtake a travelling bull, and have found myself -absolutely unable to do so, although it never broke its walk. Of course, -if I had not been obliged to pay any heed to cover or wind, I could have -run up on it; but the necessity for paying heed to both handicapped me -so that I was actually unable to come up to the quarry as it swung -steadily on through woodland and open, over rough ground and smooth. -Wapiti have a slashing trot, which they can keep up for an indefinite -time and over any kind of country. Only a good pony can overtake them -when they have had any start and have settled into this trot. If much -startled they break into a gallop—the young being always much more -willing to gallop than the old. Their gallop is very fast, especially -downhill. But they speedily tire under it. A yearling or a two-year-old -can keep it up for a couple of miles. A heavy old bull will be done out -after a few hundred yards. I once saw a band of wapiti frightened into a -gallop down a steep incline where there were also a couple of mule-deer. -I had not supposed that wapiti ran as fast as mule-deer, but this -particular band actually passed the deer, though the latter were -evidently doing their best; the wapiti were well ahead, when, after -thundering down the steep, broken incline, they all disappeared into a -belt of woodland. In spite of their size, wapiti climb well and go -sure-footedly over difficult and dangerous ground. They have a habit of -coming out to the edges of cliffs, or on mountain spurs, and looking -over the landscape beneath, almost as though they enjoyed the scenery. -What their real object is on such occasions I do not know. - -The nose of the wapiti is very keen. Its sight is much inferior to that -of the antelope, but about as good as a deer’s. Its hearing is also much -like that of a deer. When in country where it is little molested, it -feeds and moves about freely by day, lying down to rest at intervals, -like cattle. Wapiti offer especial attractions to the hunter, and next -to the bison are more quickly exterminated than any other kind of game. -Only the fact that they possessed a far wider range of habitat than -either the mule-deer, the prongbuck, or the moose, has enabled them -still to exist. Their gregariousness is also against them. Even after -the rut the herds continue together until in midspring the bulls shed -their antlers—for they keep their antlers at least two months longer -than deer. During the fall, winter, and early spring wapiti are roving, -restless creatures. Their habit of migration varies with locality, as -among mule-deer. Along the little Missouri, as in the plains country -generally, there was no well-defined migration. Up to the early -eighties, when wapiti were still plentiful, the bands wandered far and -wide, but fitfully and irregularly, wholly without regard to the season, -save that they were stationary from May to August. After 1883 there were -but a few individuals left, although as late as 1886 I once came across -a herd of nine. These surviving individuals had learned caution. The -bulls only called by night, and not very frequently then, and they spent -the entire year in the roughest and most out-of-the-way places, having -the same range both winter and summer. They selected tracts where the -ground was very broken and there was much shrubbery and patches of small -trees. This tree and bush growth gave them both shelter and food; for -they are particularly fond of browsing on the leaves and tender twig -ends, though they also eat weeds and grass. - -Wherever wapiti dwell among the mountains they make regular seasonal -migrations. In northwestern Wyoming they spend the summer in the -Yellowstone National Park, but in winter some go south to Jackson’s -Hole, while others winter in the park to the northeast. In northwestern -Colorado their migrations followed much the same line as those of the -mule-deer. In different localities the length of the migration, and even -the time, differed. There were some places where the shift was simply -from the high mountains down to their foothills. In other places great -herds travelled a couple of hundred miles, so that localities absolutely -barren one month would be swarming with wapiti the next. In some places -the shift took place as early as the month of August; in others not -until after the rut, in October or even November; and in some places the -rut took place during the migration. - -No chase is more fascinating than that of the wapiti. In the old days, -when the mighty antlered beasts were found upon the open plains, they -could be followed upon horseback, with or without hounds. Nowadays, when -they dwell in the mountains, they are to be killed only by the -rifle-bearing still-hunter. Needless butchery of any kind of animal is -repulsive, but in the case of the wapiti it is little short of criminal. -He is the grandest of the deer kind throughout the world, and he has -already vanished from most of the places where he once dwelt in his -pride. Every true sportsman should feel it incumbent upon him to do all -in his power to preserve so noble a beast of the chase from extinction. -No harm whatever comes to the species from killing a certain number of -bulls; but an excessive number should never be killed, and no cow or -calf should under any circumstances be touched. Formerly, when wapiti -were plentiful, it would have been folly for hunters and settlers in the -unexplored wilderness not to kill wild game for their meat, and -occasionally a cow or a calf had to be thus slain; but there is no -excuse nowadays for a hunting party killing anything but a full-grown -bull. - -In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to -exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. The excellent people who -protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wild -life, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is -by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more -valuable wild creatures from total extermination. Of course, if wild -animals were allowed to breed unchecked, they would, in an incredibly -short space of time, render any country uninhabitable by man—a fact -which ought to be a matter of elementary knowledge in any community -where the average intelligence is above that of certain portions of -Hindoostan. Equally, of course, in a purely utilitarian community all -wild animals are exterminated out of hand. In order to preserve the wild -life of the wilderness at all, some middle ground must be found between -brutal and senseless slaughter and the unhealthy sentimentalism which -would just as surely defeat its own end by bringing about the eventual -total extinction of the game. It is impossible to preserve the larger -wild animals in regions thoroughly fit for agriculture; and it is -perhaps too much to hope that the larger carnivores can be preserved for -merely æsthetic reasons. But throughout our country there are large -regions entirely unsuited for agriculture, where, if the people only -have foresight, they can, through the power of the State, keep the game -in perpetuity. There is no hope of preserving the bison permanently, -save in large private parks; but all other game, including not merely -deer, but the pronghorn, the splendid bighorn, and the stately and -beautiful wapiti, can be kept on the public lands, if only the proper -laws are passed, and if only these laws are properly enforced. - -Most of us, as we grow older, grow to care relatively less for sport -than for the splendid freedom and abounding health of outdoor life in -the woods, on the plains, and among the great mountains; and to the true -nature lover it is melancholy to see the wilderness stripped of the wild -creatures which gave it no small part of its peculiar charm. It is -inevitable, and probably necessary, that the wolf and the cougar should -go; but the bighorn and white goat among the rocks, the blacktail and -wapiti grouped on the mountain-side, the whitetail and moose feeding in -the sedgy ponds—these add beyond measure to the wilderness landscape, -and if they are taken away they leave a lack which nothing else can -quite make good. So it is of those true birds of the wilderness, the -eagle and the raven, and, indeed, of all the wild things, furred, -feathered, and finned. - -A peculiar charm in the chase of the wapiti comes from the wild beauty -of the country in which it dwells. The moose lives in marshy forests; if -one would seek the white goat or caribou of the northern Rockies, he -must travel on foot, pack on back; while the successful chase of the -bighorn, perhaps on the whole the manliest of all our sports, means -heart-breaking fatigue for any but the strongest and hardiest. The -prongbuck, again, must be followed on the desolate, sun-scorched plains. -But the wapiti now dwells amid lofty, pine-clad mountains, in a region -of lakes and streams. A man can travel in comfort while hunting it, -because he can almost always take a pack-train with him, and the country -is usually sufficiently open to enable the hunter to enjoy all the charm -of distant landscapes. Where the wapiti lives the spotted trout swarm in -the brooks, and the woodgrouse fly upward to perch among the tree-tops -as the hunter passes them. When hunting him there is always sweet cold -water to be drunk at night, and beds of aromatic fir boughs on which to -sleep, with the blankets drawn over one to keep out the touch of the -frost. He must be followed on foot, and the man who follows him must be -sound in limb and wind. But his pursuit does not normally mean such -wearing exhaustion as is entailed by climbing cliffs all day long after -the white goat. Whoever has hunted the wapiti, as he looks at his -trophies will always think of the great mountains with the snow lying in -the rifts in their sides; of the splashing murmur of rock-choked -torrents; of the odorous breath of the pine branches; of tents pitched -in open glades; of long walks through cool, open forests; and of great -camp-fires, where the pitchy stumps flame like giant torches in the -darkness. - -In the old days, of course, much of the hunting was done on the open -plains or among low, rugged hills. The wapiti that I shot when living at -my Little Missouri ranch were killed under exactly the same conditions -as mule-deer. When I built my ranch-house, wapiti were still not -uncommon, and their shed antlers were very numerous both on the bottoms -and in places among the hills. There was one such place a couple of -miles from my ranch in a stretch of comparatively barren but very broken -hill-country in which there were many score of these shed antlers. -Evidently a few years before this had been a great gathering-place for -wapiti toward the end of winter. My ranch itself derived its name, “The -Elkhorn,” from the fact that on the ground where we built it were found -the skulls and interlocked antlers of two wapiti bulls who had perished -from getting their antlers fastened in a battle. I never, however, -killed a wapiti while on a day’s hunt from the ranch itself. Those that -I killed were obtained on regular expeditions, when I took the wagon and -drove off to spend a night or two on ground too far for me to hunt it -through in a single day from the ranch. Moreover, the wapiti on the -Little Missouri had been so hunted that they had entirely abandoned the -diurnal habits of their kind, and it was a great advantage to get on the -ground early. This hunting was not carried on amid the glorious mountain -scenery which marks the home of the wapiti in the Rockies; but the -surroundings had a charm of their own. All really wild scenery is -attractive. The true hunter, the true lover of the wilderness, loves all -parts of the wilderness, just as the true lover of nature loves all -seasons. There is no season of the year when the country is not more -attractive than the city; and there is no portion of the wilderness, -where game is found, in which it is not a keen pleasure to hunt. Perhaps -no other kind of country quite equals that where snow lies on the lofty -mountain peaks, where there are many open glades in the pine forests, -and clear mountain lakes and rushing trout-filled torrents. But the -fantastic desolation of the Bad Lands, and the endless sweep of the -brown prairies, alike have their fascination for the true lover of -nature and lover of the wilderness who goes through them on foot or on -horseback. As for the broken hill-country in which I followed the wapiti -and the mule-deer along the Little Missouri, it would be strange indeed -if any one found it otherwise than attractive in the bright, sharp fall -weather. Long, grassy valleys wound among the boldly shaped hills. The -basins were filled with wind-beaten trees and brush, which generally -also ran alongside of the dry watercourses down the middle of each -valley. Cedars clustered in the sheer ravines, and here and there groups -of elm and ash grew to a considerable height in the more sheltered -places. At the first touch of the frost the foliage turned russet or -yellow—the Virginia creepers crimson. Under the cloudless blue sky the -air was fresh and cool, and as we lay by the camp-fire at night the -stars shone with extraordinary brilliancy. Under such conditions the -actual chase of the wapiti was much like that of the mule-deer. They had -been so hunted that they showed none of the foolish traits which they -are prone to exhibit when bands are found in regions where they have -been little persecuted; and they were easier to kill than mule-deer -simply because they were more readily tracked and more readily seen, and -offered a larger, and on the whole a steadier, mark at which to shoot. -When a small band had visited a pool their tracks could be identified at -once, because in the soft ground the flexible feet spread and yielded so -as to leave the marks of the false hoofs. On ordinary ground it was -difficult to tell their footprints from those of the yearling and -two-year-old ranch cattle. - -[Illustration: - - TROPHIES OF A SUCCESSFUL HUNT -] - -But the mountains are the true ground for the wapiti. Here he must be -hunted on foot, and nowadays, since he has grown wiser, skill and -patience, and the capacity to endure fatigue and exposure, must be shown -by the successful hunter. My own wapiti-hunting has been done in -September and early October during the height of the rut, and therefore -at a time when the conditions were most favorable for the hunter. I have -hunted them in many places throughout the Rockies, from the Big Horn in -western Wyoming to the Big Hole Basin in western Montana, close to the -Idaho line. Where I hunted, the wapiti were always very noisy both by -day and by night, and at least half of the bulls that I killed attracted -my attention by their calling before I saw either them or their tracks. -At night they frequently passed close to camp, or came nearly up to the -picketed horses, challenging all the time. More than once I slipped out, -hoping to kill one by moonlight, but I never succeeded. Occasionally, -when they were plentiful, and were restless and always roving about, I -simply sat still on a log, until one gave me a chance. Sometimes I came -across them while hunting through likely localities, going up or across -wind, keeping the sharpest lookout, and moving with great care and -caution, until I happened to strike the animals I was after. More than -once I took the trail of a band, when out with some first-class -woodsman, and after much running, dodging, and slipping through the -timber, overtook the animals—though usually when thus merely following -the trail I failed to come up with them. On two different occasions I -followed and came up to bands, attracted by their scent. Wapiti have a -strong, and, on the whole, pleasing scent, like that of Alderney cattle, -although in old bulls it becomes offensively strong. This scent is very -penetrating. I once smelt a herd which was lying quite still taking its -noonday siesta, certainly half a mile to the windward of me; and -creeping up I shot a good bull as he lay. On another occasion, while -working through the tangled trees and underbrush at the bottom of a -little winding valley, I suddenly smelt wapiti ahead, and without paying -any further attention to the search for tracks, I hunted cautiously up -the valley, and when it forked was able to decide by the smell alone -which way the wapiti had gone. He was going up wind ahead of me, and his -ground-covering walk kept me at a trot in order to overtake him. Finally -I saw him, before he saw me, and then, by making a run to one side, got -a shot at him when he broke cover, and dropped him. - -It is exciting to creep up to a calling wapiti. If it is a solitary -bull, he is apt to be travelling, seeking the cows, or on the lookout -for some rival of weaker thews. Under such circumstances only hard -running will enable the hunter to overtake him, unless there is a chance -to cut him off. If, however, he hears another bull, or has a herd under -him, the chances are that he is nearly stationary, or at least is moving -slowly, and the hunter has every opportunity to approach. In a herd the -bull himself is usually so absorbed both with his cows and with his -rivals that he is not at all apt to discover the approaching hunter. The -cows, however, are thoroughly awake, and it is their eyes and keen noses -for which the hunter must look out. A solitary bull which is answering -the challenge of another is the easiest of all to approach. Of course, -if there has been much hunting, even such a bull is wary and is on the -lookout for harm. But in remote localities he becomes so absorbed in -finding out the whereabouts of his rival, and is so busy answering the -latter’s challenges and going through motions of defiance, that with -proper care it is comparatively easy to approach him. Once, when within -seventy yards of such a bull, he partly made me out and started toward -me. Evidently he could not tell exactly what I was—my buckskin shirt -probably helping to puzzle him—and in his anger and eagerness he did not -think of danger until it was too late. On another occasion I got up to -two bulls that were fighting, and killed both. In the fights, weight of -body seems to count for more than size of antlers. - -Once I spent the better part of a day in following a wapiti bull before -I finally got him. Generally when hunting wapiti I have been with either -one of my men from the ranch or a hunter like Tazewell Woody, or John -Willis. On this particular occasion, however, I happened to be alone; -and though I have rarely been as successful alone as when in the company -of some thoroughly trained and experienced plainsman or mountainman, yet -when success does come under such circumstances it is always a matter of -peculiar pride. - -At the time, I was camped in a beautiful valley high among the mountains -which divide southwestern Montana from Idaho. The weather was cold, and -there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground, so that the -conditions were favorable for tracking and stalking. The country was -well wooded, but the forest was not dense, and there were many open -glades. Early one morning, just about dawn, the cook, who had been up -for a few minutes, waked me, to say that a bull wapiti was calling not -far off. I rolled out of my bed and was dressed in short order. The bull -had by this time passed the camp, and was travelling toward a range of -mountains on the other side of the stream which ran down the valley -bottom. He was evidently not alarmed, for he was still challenging. I -gulped down a cup of hot coffee, munched a piece of hardtack, and thrust -four or five other pieces and a cold elk tongue into my hunting-shirt, -and then, as it had grown light enough to travel, started after the -wapiti. I supposed that in a few minutes I should either have overtaken -him or abandoned the pursuit, and I took the food with me simply because -in the wilderness it never pays to be unprepared for emergencies. The -wisdom of such a course was shown in this instance by the fact that I -did not see camp again until long after dark. - -I at first tried to cut off the wapiti by trotting through the woods -toward the pass for which I supposed he was headed. The morning was -cold, and, as always happens at the outset when one starts to take -violent exercise under such circumstances, the running caused me to -break into a perspiration; so that the first time I stopped to listen -for the wapiti a regular fog rose over my glasses and then froze on -them. I could not see a thing, and after wiping them found I had to keep -gently moving in order to prevent them from clouding over again. It is -on such cold mornings, or else in very rainy weather, that the man who -has not been gifted with good eyes is most sensible of his limitations. -I once lost a caribou which I had been following at speed over the snow -because when I came into sight and halted the moisture instantly formed -and froze on my glasses so that I could not see anything, and before I -got them clear the game had vanished. Whatever happened, I was bound -that I should not lose this wapiti from a similar accident. - -However, when I next heard him he had evidently changed his course and -was going straight away from me. The sun had now risen, and following -after him I soon found his tracks. He was walking forward with the -regular wapiti stride, and I made up my mind I had a long chase ahead of -me. We were going up hill, and though I walked hard, I did not trot -until we topped the crest. Then I jogged along at a good gait, and as I -had on moccasins, and the woods were open, I did not have to exercise -much caution. Accordingly I gained, and felt I was about to come up with -him, when the wind brought down from very far off another challenge. My -bull heard it before I did, and instantly started toward the spot at a -trot. There was not the slightest use of my attempting to keep up with -this, and I settled down into a walk. Half an hour afterward I came over -a slight crest, and immediately saw a herd of wapiti ahead of me, across -the valley and on an open hillside. The herd was in commotion, the -master bull whistling vigorously and rounding up his cows, evidently -much excited at the new bull’s approach. There were two or three -yearlings and two-year-old bulls on the outskirts of the herd, and the -master bull, whose temper had evidently not been improved by the coming -of the stranger, occasionally charged these and sent them rattling off -through the bushes. The ground was so open between me and them that I -dared not venture across it, and I was forced to lie still and await -developments. The bull I had been following and the herd bull kept -challenging vigorously, but the former probably recognized in the latter -a heavier animal, and could not rouse his courage to the point of -actually approaching and doing battle. It by no means follows that the -animal with the heaviest body has the best antlers, but the hesitation -thus shown by the bull I was following made me feel that the other would -probably yield the more valuable trophies, and after a couple of hours I -made up my mind to try to get near the herd, abandoning the animal I had -been after. - -The herd showed but little symptoms of moving, the cows when let alone -scattering out to graze, and some of them even lying down. Accordingly I -did not hurry myself, and spent considerably over an hour in slipping -off to the right and approaching through a belt of small firs. -Unfortunately, however, the wind had slightly shifted, and while I was -out of sight of the herd they had also come down toward the spot from -whence I had been watching them. Accordingly, just as I was beginning to -creep forward with the utmost caution, expecting to see them at any -moment, I heard a thumping and cracking of branches that showed they -were on the run. With wapiti there is always a chance of overtaking them -after they have first started, because they tack and veer and halt to -look around. Therefore I ran forward as fast as I could through the -woods; but when I came to the edge of the fir belt I saw that the herd -were several hundred yards off. They were clustered together and looking -back, and saw me at once. - -Off they started again. The old bull, however, had neither seen me nor -smelt me, and when I heard his whistle of rage I knew he had -misinterpreted the reason for the departure of his cows, and in another -moment he came in sight, evidently bent on rounding them up. On his way -he attacked and drove off one of the yearlings, and then took after the -cows, while the yearling ran toward the outlying bull. The latter -evidently failed to understand what had happened; at least he showed no -signs of alarm. Neither, however, did he attempt to follow the fleeing -herd, but started off again on his own line. - -I was sure the herd would not stop for some miles, and accordingly I -resumed my chase of the single bull. He walked for certainly three miles -before he again halted, and I was then half a mile behind him. On this -occasion he struck a small belt of woodland and began to travel to and -fro through it, probably with an idea of lying down. I was able to get -up fairly close by crawling on all-fours through the snow for part of -the distance; but just as I was about to fire he moved slightly, and -though my shot hit him, it went a little too far back. He plunged over -the hill-crest and was off at a gallop, and after running forward and -failing to overtake him in the first rush, I sat down to consider -matters. The snow had begun to melt under the sun, and my knees and the -lower parts of my sleeves were wet from my crawl, and I was tired and -hungry and very angry at having failed to kill the wapiti. It was, -however, early in the afternoon, and I thought that if I let the wapiti -alone for an hour, he would lie down, and then grow stiff and reluctant -to get up; while in the snow I was sure I could easily follow his -tracks. Therefore I ate my lunch, and then swallowed some mouthfuls of -snow in lieu of drinking. - -[Illustration: - - TROPHIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE DINING-ROOM -] - -An hour afterward I took the trail. It was evident the bull was hard -hit, but even after he had changed his plunging gallop for a trot he -showed no signs of stopping; fortunately his trail did not cross any -other. The blood signs grew infrequent, and two or three times he went -up places which made it difficult for me to believe he was much hurt. At -last, however, I came to where he had lain down; but he had risen again -and gone forward. For a moment I feared that my approach had alarmed -him, but this was evidently not the case, for he was now walking. I left -the trail, and turning to one side below the wind I took a long circle -and again struck back to the bottom of the valley down which the wapiti -had been travelling. The timber here was quite thick, and I moved very -cautiously, continually halting and listening for five or ten minutes. -Not a sound did I hear, and I crossed the valley bottom and began to -ascend the other side without finding the trail. Unless he had turned -off up the mountains I knew that this meant he must have lain down; so I -retraced my steps and with extreme caution began to make my way up the -valley. Finally I came to a little opening, and after peering about for -five minutes I stepped forward, and instantly heard a struggling and -crashing in a clump of young spruce on the other side. It was the wapiti -trying to get on his feet. I ran forward at my best pace, and as he was -stiff and slow in his movements I was within seventy yards before he got -fairly under way. Dropping on one knee, I fired and hit him in the -flank. At the moment I could not tell whether or not I had missed him, -for he gave no sign; but, running forward very fast, I speedily saw him -standing with his head down. He heard me and again started, but at the -third bullet down he went in his tracks, the antlers clattering loudly -on the branches of a dead tree. - -The snow was melting fast, and for fear it might go off entirely, so -that I could not follow my back track, I went up the hillside upon which -the wapiti lay, and taking a dead tree dragged it down to the bottom, -leaving a long furrow. I then repeated the operation on the opposite -hillside, thus making a trace which it was impossible for any one coming -up or down the valley to overlook; and having conned certain landmarks -by which the valley itself could be identified, I struck toward camp at -a round trot; for I knew that if I did not get into the valley where the -tent lay before dark, I should have to pass the night out. However, the -last uncertain light of dusk just enabled me to get over a spur from -which I could catch a glimpse of the camp-fire, and as I stumbled toward -it through the forest I heard a couple of shots, which showed that the -cook and packer were getting anxious as to my whereabouts. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - WILDERNESS RESERVES; THE YELLOWSTONE PARK - - -The most striking and melancholy feature in connection with American big -game is the rapidity with which it has vanished. When, just before the -outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the rifle-bearing hunters of the -backwoods first penetrated the great forests west of the Alleghanies, -deer, elk, black bear, and even buffalo, swarmed in what are now the -States of Kentucky and Tennessee, and the country north of the Ohio was -a great and almost virgin hunting-ground. From that day to this the -shrinkage has gone on, only partially checked here and there, and never -arrested as a whole. As a matter of historical accuracy, however, it is -well to bear in mind that many writers, in lamenting this extinction of -the game, have from time to time anticipated or overstated the facts. -Thus as good an author as Colonel Richard Irving Dodge spoke of the -buffalo as practically extinct, while the great Northern herd still -existed in countless thousands. As early as 1880 sporting authorities -spoke not only of the buffalo, but of the elk, deer, and antelope as no -longer to be found in plenty; and recently one of the greatest of living -hunters has stated that it is no longer possible to find any American -wapiti bearing heads comparable with the red deer of Hungary. As a -matter of fact, in the early eighties there were still large regions -where every species of game that had ever been known within historic -times on our continent was still to be found as plentifully as ever. In -the early nineties there were still big tracts of wilderness in which -this was true of all game except the buffalo; for instance, it was true -of the elk in portions of northwestern Wyoming, of the blacktail in -northwestern Colorado, of the whitetail here and there in the Indian -Territory, and of the antelope in parts of New Mexico. Even at the -present day there are smaller, but still considerable, regions where -these four animals are yet found in abundance; and I have seen antlers -of wapiti shot since 1900 far surpassing any of which there is record -from Hungary. In New England and New York, as well as New Brunswick and -Nova Scotia, the whitetail deer is more plentiful than it was thirty -years ago, and in Maine (and to an even greater extent in New Brunswick) -the moose, and here and there the caribou, have, on the whole, increased -during the same period. There is yet ample opportunity for the big game -hunter in the United States, Canada and Alaska. - -While it is necessary to give this word of warning to those who, in -praising time past, always forget the opportunities of the present, it -is a thousandfold more necessary to remember that these opportunities -are, nevertheless, vanishing; and if we are a sensible people, we will -make it our business to see that the process of extinction is arrested. -At the present moment the great herds of caribou are being butchered, as -in the past the great herds of bison and wapiti have been butchered. -Every believer in manliness, and therefore in manly sport, and every -lover of nature, every man who appreciates the majesty and beauty of the -wilderness and of wild life, should strike hands with the far-sighted -men who wish to preserve our material resources, in the effort to keep -our forests and our game beasts, game birds, and game fish—indeed, all -the living creatures of prairie, and woodland, and seashore—from wanton -destruction. - -Above all, we should realize that the effort toward this end is -essentially a democratic movement. It is entirely in our power as a -nation to preserve large tracts of wilderness, which are valueless for -agricultural purposes and unfit for settlement, as playgrounds for rich -and poor alike, and to preserve the game so that it shall continue to -exist for the benefit of all lovers of nature, and to give reasonable -opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, whether he is -or is not a man of means. But this end can only be achieved by wise laws -and by a resolute enforcement of the laws. Lack of such legislation and -administration will result in harm to all of us, but most of all in harm -to the nature lover who does not possess vast wealth. Already there have -sprung up here and there through the country, as in New Hampshire and -the Adirondacks, large private preserves. These preserves often serve a -useful purpose, and should be encouraged within reasonable limits; but -it would be a misfortune if they increased beyond a certain extent or if -they took the place of great tracts of wild land, which continue as such -either because of their very nature, or because of the protection of the -State exerted in the form of making them State or national parks or -reserves. It is foolish to regard proper game laws as undemocratic, -unrepublican. On the contrary, they are essentially in the interests of -the people as a whole, because it is only through their enactment and -enforcement that the people as a whole can preserve the game and can -prevent its becoming purely the property of the rich, who are able to -create and maintain extensive private preserves. The wealthy man can get -hunting anyhow, but the man of small means is dependent solely upon wise -and well-executed game laws for his enjoyment of the sturdy pleasure of -the chase. In Maine, in Vermont, in the Adirondacks, even in parts of -Massachusetts and on Long Island, people have waked up to this fact, -particularly so far as the common whitetail deer is concerned, and in -Maine also as regards the moose and caribou. The effect is shown in the -increase in these animals. Such game protection results, in the first -place, in securing to the people who live in the neighborhood permanent -opportunities for hunting; and in the next place, it provides no small -source of wealth to the locality because of the visitors which it -attracts. A deer wild in the woods is worth to the people of the -neighborhood many times the value of its carcass, because of the way it -attracts sportsmen, who give employment and leave money behind them. - -True sportsmen, worthy of the name, men who shoot only in season and in -moderation, do no harm whatever to game. The most objectionable of all -game destroyers is, of course, the kind of game-butcher who simply kills -for the sake of the record of slaughter, who leaves deer and ducks and -prairie-chickens to rot after he has slain them. Such a man is wholly -obnoxious; and, indeed, so is any man who shoots for the purpose of -establishing a record of the amount of game killed. To my mind this is -one very unfortunate feature of what is otherwise the admirably -sportsmanlike English spirit in these matters. The custom of shooting -great bags of deer, grouse, partridges, and pheasants, the keen rivalry -in making such bags, and their publication in sporting journals, are -symptoms of a spirit which is most unhealthy from every standpoint. It -is to be earnestly hoped that every American hunting or fishing club -will strive to inculcate among its own members, and in the minds of the -general public, that anything like an excessive bag, any destruction for -the sake of making a record, is to be severely reprobated. - -But after all, this kind of perverted sportsman, unworthy though he be, -is not the chief actor in the destruction of our game. The professional -skin or market hunter is the real offender. Yet he is of all others the -man who would ultimately be most benefited by the preservation of the -game. The frontier settler, in a thoroughly wild country, is certain to -kill game for his own use. As long as he does no more than this, it is -hard to blame him; although if he is awake to his own interests he will -soon realize that to him, too, the live deer is worth far more than the -dead deer, because of the way in which it brings money into the -wilderness. The professional market hunter who kills game for the hide, -or for the feathers, or for the meat, or to sell antlers and other -trophies; the market men who put game in cold storage; and the rich -people, who are content to buy what they have not the skill to get by -their own exertions—these are the men who are the real enemies of game. -Where there is no law which checks the market hunters, the inevitable -result of their butchery is that the game is completely destroyed, and -with it their own means of livelihood. If, on the other hand, they were -willing to preserve it, they could make much more money by acting as -guides. In northwestern Colorado, at the present moment, there are still -blacktail deer in abundance, and some elk are left. Colorado has fairly -good game laws, but they are indifferently enforced. The country in -which the game is found can probably never support any but a very sparse -population, and a large portion of the summer range is practically -useless for settlement. If the people of Colorado generally, and above -all the people of the counties in which the game is located, would -resolutely cooperate with those of their own number who are already -alive to the importance of preserving the game, it could, without -difficulty, be kept always as abundant as it now is, and this beautiful -region would be a permanent health resort and playground for the people -of a large part of the Union. Such action would be a benefit to every -one, but it would be a benefit most of all to the people of the -immediate locality. - -The practical common sense of the American people has been in no way -made more evident during the last few years than by the creation and use -of a series of large land reserves—situated for the most part on the -great plains and among the mountains of the West—intended to keep the -forests from destruction, and therefore to conserve the water supply. -These reserves are, and should be, created primarily for economic -purposes. The semi-arid regions can only support a reasonable population -under conditions of the strictest economy and wisdom in the use of the -water supply, and in addition to their other economic uses the forests -are indispensably necessary for the preservation of the water supply and -for rendering possible its useful distribution throughout the proper -seasons. In addition, however, to this economic use of the wilderness, -selected portions of it have been kept here and there in a state of -nature, not merely for the sake of preserving the forests and the water, -but for the sake of preserving all its beauties and wonders unspoiled by -greedy and short-sighted vandalism. What has been actually accomplished -in the Yellowstone Park affords the best possible object-lesson as to -the desirability and practicability of establishing such wilderness -reserves. This reserve is a natural breeding-ground and nursery for -those stately and beautiful haunters of the wilds which have now -vanished from so many of the great forests, the vast lonely plains, and -the high mountain ranges, where they once abounded. - -On April 8, 1903, John Burroughs and I reached the Yellowstone Park, and -were met by Major John Pitcher of the Regular Army, the Superintendent -of the Park. The Major and I forthwith took horses; he telling me that -he could show me a good deal of game while riding up to his house at the -Mammoth Hot Springs. Hardly had we left the little town of Gardiner and -gotten within the limits of the Park before we saw prongbuck. There was -a band of at least a hundred feeding some distance from the road. We -rode leisurely toward them. They were tame compared to their kindred in -unprotected places; that is, it was easy to ride within fair rifle range -of them; and though they were not familiar in the sense that we -afterwards found the bighorn and the deer to be familiar, it was -extraordinary to find them showing such familiarity almost literally in -the streets of a frontier town. It spoke volumes for the good sense and -law-abiding spirit of the people of the town. During the two hours -following my entry into the Park we rode around the plains and lower -slopes of the foothills in the neighborhood of the mouth of the Gardiner -and we saw several hundred—probably a thousand all told—of these -antelopes. Major Pitcher informed me that all the pronghorns in the Park -wintered in this neighborhood. Toward the end of April or the first of -May they migrate back to their summering homes in the open valleys along -the Yellowstone and in the plains south of the Golden Gate. While -migrating they go over the mountains and through forests if occasion -demands. Although there are plenty of coyotes in the Park, there are no -big wolves, and save for very infrequent poachers the only enemy of the -antelope, as indeed the only enemy of all the game, is the cougar. - -[Illustration: - - ANTELOPE IN THE STREETS OF GARDINER -] - -Cougars, known in the Park, as elsewhere through the West,as “mountain -lions,” are plentiful, having increased in numbers of recent years. -Except in the neighborhood of the Gardiner River, that is within a few -miles of Mammoth Hot Springs, I found them feeding on elk, which in the -Park far outnumber all other game put together, being so numerous that -the ravages of the cougars are of no real damage to the herds. But in -the neighborhood of the Mammoth Hot Springs the cougars are noxious -because of the antelope, mountain sheep, and deer which they kill; and -the Superintendent has imported some hounds with which to hunt them. -These hounds are managed by Buffalo Jones, a famous old plainsman, who -is now in the Park taking care of the buffalo. On this first day of my -visit to the Park I came across the carcasses of a deer and of an -antelope which the cougars had killed. On the great plains cougars -rarely get antelope, but here the country is broken so that the big cats -can make their stalks under favorable circumstances. To deer and -mountain sheep the cougar is a most dangerous enemy—much more so than -the wolf. - -The antelope we saw were usually in bands of from twenty to one hundred -and fifty, and they travelled strung out almost in single file, though -those in the rear would sometimes bunch up. I did not try to stalk them, -but got as near them as I could on horseback. The closest approach I was -able to make was to within about eighty yards of two which were by -themselves—I think a doe and a last year’s fawn. As I was riding up to -them, although they looked suspiciously at me, one actually lay down. -When I was passing them at about eighty yards’ distance the big one -became nervous, gave a sudden jump, and away the two went at full speed. - -Why the prongbucks were so comparatively shy I do not know, for right on -the ground with them we came upon deer, and, in the immediate -neighborhood, mountain sheep, which were absurdly tame. The mountain -sheep were nineteen in number, for the most part does and yearlings with -a couple of three-year-old rams, but not a single big fellow—for the big -fellows at this season are off by themselves, singly or in little -bunches, high up in the mountains. The band I saw was tame to a degree -matched by but few domestic animals. - -They were feeding on the brink of a steep washout at the upper edge of -one of the benches on the mountain-side just below where the abrupt -slope began. They were alongside a little gully with sheer walls. I rode -my horse to within forty yards of them, one of them occasionally looking -up and at once continuing to feed. Then they moved slowly off and -leisurely crossed the gully to the other side. I dismounted, walked -around the head of the gully, and moving cautiously, but in plain sight, -came closer and closer until I was within twenty yards, when I sat down -on a stone and spent certainly twenty minutes looking at them. They paid -hardly any attention to my presence—certainly no more than well-treated -domestic creatures would pay. One of the rams rose on his hind legs, -leaning his fore-hoofs against a little pine tree, and browsed the ends -of the budding branches. The others grazed on the short grass and -herbage or lay down and rested—two of the yearlings several times -playfully butting at one another. Now and then one would glance in my -direction without the slightest sign of fear—barely even of curiosity. I -have no question whatever but that with a little patience this -particular band could be made to feed out of a man’s hand. Major Pitcher -intends during the coming winter to feed them alfalfa—for game animals -of several kinds have become so plentiful in the neighborhood of the Hot -Springs, and the Major has grown so interested in them, that he wishes -to do something toward feeding them during the severe weather. After I -had looked at the sheep to my heart’s content, I walked back to my -horse, my departure arousing as little interest as my advent. - -Soon after leaving them we began to come across blacktail deer, singly, -in twos and threes, and in small bunches of a dozen or so. They were -almost as tame as the mountain sheep, but not quite. That is, they -always looked alertly at me, and though if I stayed still they would -graze, they kept a watch over my movements and usually moved slowly off -when I got within less than forty yards of them. Up to that distance, -whether on foot or on horseback, they paid but little heed to me, and on -several occasions they allowed me to come much closer. Like the bighorn, -the blacktails at this time were grazing, not browsing; but I -occasionally saw them nibble some willow buds. During the winter they -had been browsing. As we got close to the Hot Springs we came across -several whitetail in an open, marshy meadow. They were not quite as tame -as the blacktail, although without any difficulty I walked up to within -fifty yards of them. Handsome though the blacktail is, the whitetail is -the most beautiful of all deer when in motion, because of the springy, -bounding grace of its trot and canter, and the way it carries its head -and white flag aloft. - -Before reaching the Mammoth Hot Springs we also saw a number of ducks in -the little pools and on the Gardiner. Some of them were rather shy. -Others—probably those which, as Major Pitcher informed me, had spent the -winter there—were as tame as barn-yard fowls. - -Just before reaching the post the Major took me into the big field where -Buffalo Jones had some Texas and Flathead Lake buffalo—bulls and -cows—which he was tending with solicitous care. The original stock of -buffalo in the Park have now been reduced to fifteen or twenty -individuals, and their blood is being recruited by the addition of -buffalo purchased out of the Flathead Lake and Texas Panhandle herds. -The buffalo were at first put within a wire fence, which, when it was -built, was found to have included both blacktail and whitetail deer. A -bull elk was also put in with them at one time, he having met with some -accident which made the Major and Buffalo Jones bring him in to doctor -him. When he recovered his health he became very cross. Not only would -he attack men, but also buffalo, even the old and surly master bull, -thumping them savagely with his antlers if they did anything to which he -objected. The buffalo are now breeding well. - -[Illustration: - - BLACKTAIL DEER ON PARADE-GROUND -] - -When I reached the post and dismounted at the Major’s house, I supposed -my experiences with wild beasts were ended for the day; but this was an -error. The quarters of the officers and men and the various hotel -buildings, stables, residences of the civilian officials, etc., almost -completely surround the big parade-ground at the post, near the middle -of which stands the flag-pole, while the gun used for morning and -evening salutes is well off to one side. There are large gaps between -some of the buildings, and Major Pitcher informed me that throughout the -winter he had been leaving alfalfa on the parade-grounds, and that -numbers of blacktail deer had been in the habit of visiting it every -day, sometimes as many as seventy being on the parade-ground at once. As -spring-time came on the numbers diminished. However, in mid-afternoon, -while I was writing in my room in Major Pitcher’s house, on looking out -of the window I saw five deer on the parade-ground. They were as tame as -so many Alderney cows, and when I walked out I got within twenty yards -of them without any difficulty. It was most amusing to see them as the -time approached for the sunset gun to be fired. The notes of the -trumpeter attracted their attention at once. They all looked at him -eagerly. One of them resumed feeding, and paid no attention whatever -either to the bugle, the gun or the flag. The other four, however, -watched the preparations for firing the gun with an intent gaze, and at -the sound of the report gave two or three jumps; then instantly -wheeling, looked up at the flag as it came down. This they seemed to -regard as something rather more suspicious than the gun, and they -remained very much on the alert until the ceremony was over. Once it was -finished, they resumed feeding as if nothing had happened. Before it was -dark they trotted away from the parade-ground back to the mountains. - -The next day we rode off to the Yellowstone River, camping some miles -below Cottonwood Creek. It was a very pleasant camp. Major Pitcher, an -old friend, had a first-class pack-train, so that we were as comfortable -as possible, and on such a trip there could be no pleasanter or more -interesting companion than John Burroughs—“Oom John,” as we soon grew to -call him. Where our tents were pitched the bottom of the valley was -narrow, the mountains rising steep and cliff-broken on either side. -There were quite a number of blacktail in the valley, which were tame -and unsuspicious, although not nearly as much so as those in the -immediate neighborhood of the Mammoth Hot Springs. One mid-afternoon -three of them swam across the river a hundred yards above our camp. But -the characteristic animals of the region were the elk—the wapiti. They -were certainly more numerous than when I was last through the Park -twelve years before. - -In the summer the elk spread all over the interior of the Park. As -winter approaches they divide, some going north and others south. The -southern bands, which, at a guess, may possibly include ten thousand -individuals, winter out of the Park, for the most part in Jackson’s -Hole—though of course here and there within the limits of the Park a few -elk may spend both winter and summer in an unusually favorable location. -It was the members of the northern band that I met. During the winter -time they are nearly stationary, each band staying within a very few -miles of the same place, and from their size and the open nature of -their habitat it is almost as easy to count them as if they were cattle. -From a spur of Bison Peak one day, Major Pitcher, the guide Elwood -Hofer, John Burroughs and I spent about four hours with the glasses -counting and estimating the different herds within sight. After most -careful work and cautious reduction of estimates in each case to the -minimum the truth would permit, we reckoned three thousand head of elk, -all lying or feeding and all in sight at the same time. An estimate of -some fifteen thousand for the number of elk in these Northern bands -cannot be far wrong. These bands do not go out of the Park at all, but -winter just within its northern boundary. At the time when we saw them, -the snow had vanished from the bottoms of the valleys and the lower -slopes of the mountains, but remained as continuous sheets farther up -their sides. The elk were for the most part found up on the snow slopes, -occasionally singly or in small gangs—more often in bands of from fifty -to a couple of hundred. The larger bulls were highest up the mountains -and generally in small troops by themselves, although occasionally one -or two would be found associating with a big herd of cows, yearlings, -and two-year-olds. Many of the bulls had shed their antlers; many had -not. During the winter the elk had evidently done much browsing, but at -this time they were grazing almost exclusively, and seemed by preference -to seek out the patches of old grass which were last left bare by the -retreating snow. The bands moved about very little, and if one were seen -one day it was generally possible to find it within a few hundred yards -of the same spot the next day, and certainly not more than a mile or two -off. There were severe frosts at night, and occasionally light flurries -of snow; but the hardy beasts evidently cared nothing for any but heavy -storms, and seemed to prefer to lie in the snow rather than upon the -open ground. They fed at irregular hours throughout the day, just like -cattle; one band might be lying down while another was feeding. While -travelling they usually went almost in single file. Evidently the winter -had weakened them, and they were not in condition for running; for on -the one or two occasions when I wanted to see them close up I ran right -into them on horseback, both on level plains and going up hill along the -sides of rather steep mountains. One band in particular I practically -rounded up for John Burroughs, finally getting them to stand in a huddle -while he and I sat on our horses less than fifty yards off. After they -had run a little distance they opened their mouths wide and showed -evident signs of distress. - -We came across a good many carcasses. Two, a bull and a cow, had died -from scab. Over half the remainder had evidently perished from cold or -starvation. The others, including a bull, three cows and a score of -yearlings, had been killed by cougars. In the Park the cougar is at -present their only animal foe. The cougars were preying on nothing but -elk in the Yellowstone Valley, and kept hanging about the neighborhood -of the big bands. Evidently they usually selected some outlying -yearling, stalked it as it lay or as it fed, and seized it by the head -and throat. The bull which they killed was in a little open valley by -himself, many miles from any other elk. The cougar which killed it, -judging from its tracks, was a big male. As the elk were evidently -rather too numerous for the feed, I do not think the cougars were doing -any damage. - -Coyotes are plentiful, but the elk evidently have no dread of them. One -day I crawled up to within fifty yards of a band of elk lying down. A -coyote was walking about among them, and beyond an occasional look they -paid no heed to him. He did not venture to go within fifteen or twenty -paces of any one of them. In fact, except the cougar, I saw but one -living thing attempt to molest the elk. This was a golden eagle. We saw -several of these great birds. On one occasion we had ridden out to the -foot of a sloping mountain-side, dotted over with bands and strings of -elk amounting in the aggregate probably to a thousand head. Most of the -bands were above the snow-line—some appearing away back toward the ridge -crests, and looking as small as mice. There was one band well below the -snow-line, and toward this we rode. While the elk were not shy or wary, -in the sense that a hunter would use the words, they were by no means as -familiar as the deer; and this particular band of elk, some twenty or -thirty in all, watched us with interest as we approached. When we were -still half a mile off they suddenly started to run toward us, evidently -frightened by something. They ran quartering, and when about four -hundred yards away we saw that an eagle was after them. Soon it swooped, -and a yearling in the rear, weakly, and probably frightened by the -swoop, turned a complete somersault, and when it recovered its feet -stood still. The great bird followed the rest of the band across a -little ridge, beyond which they disappeared. Then it returned, soaring -high in the heavens, and after two or three wide circles, swooped down -at the solitary yearling, its legs hanging down. We halted at two -hundred yards to see the end. But the eagle could not quite make up its -mind to attack. Twice it hovered within a foot or two of the yearling’s -head, again flew off and again returned. Finally the yearling trotted -off after the rest of the band, and the eagle returned to the upper air. -Later we found the carcass of a yearling, with two eagles, not to -mention ravens and magpies, feeding on it; but I could not tell whether -they had themselves killed the yearling or not. - -Here and there in the region where the elk were abundant we came upon -horses, which for some reason had been left out through the winter. They -were much wilder than the elk. Evidently the Yellowstone Park is a -natural nursery and breeding-ground of the elk, which here, as said -above, far outnumber all the other game put together. In the winter, if -they cannot get to open water, they eat snow; but in several places -where there had been springs which kept open all winter, we could see by -the tracks that they had been regularly used by bands of elk. The men -working at the new road along the face of the cliffs beside the -Yellowstone River near Tower Falls informed me that in October enormous -droves of elk coming from the interior of the Park and travelling -northward to the lower lands had crossed the Yellowstone just above -Tower Falls. Judging by their description, the elk had crossed by -thousands in an uninterrupted stream, the passage taking many hours. In -fact nowadays these Yellowstone elk are, with the exception of the -Arctic caribou, the only American game which at times travel in immense -droves like the buffalo of the old days. - -[Illustration: - - ELK IN SNOW -] - -A couple of days after leaving Cottonwood Creek—where we had spent -several days—we camped at the Yellowstone Canyon below Tower Falls. Here -we saw a second band of mountain sheep, numbering only eight—none of -them old rams. We were camped on the west side of the canyon; the sheep -had their abode on the opposite side, where they had spent the winter. -It has recently been customary among some authorities, especially the -English hunters and naturalists who have written of the Asiatic sheep, -to speak as if sheep were naturally creatures of the plains rather than -mountain climbers. I know nothing of the Old World sheep, but the Rocky -Mountain bighorn is to the full as characteristic a mountain animal, in -every sense of the word, as the chamois, and, I think, as the ibex. -These sheep were well known to the road builders, who had spent the -winter in the locality. They told me they never went back on the plains, -but throughout the winter had spent their days and nights on the top of -the cliff and along its face. This cliff was an alternation of sheer -precipices and very steep inclines. When coated with ice it would be -difficult to imagine an uglier bit of climbing; but throughout the -winter, and even in the wildest storms, the sheep had habitually gone -down it to drink at the water below. When we first saw them they were -lying sunning themselves on the edge of the canyon, where the rolling -grassy country behind it broke off into the sheer descent. It was -mid-afternoon and they were under some pines. After a while they got up -and began to graze, and soon hopped unconcernedly down the side of the -cliff until they were half-way to the bottom. They then grazed along the -sides, and spent some time licking at a place where there was evidently -a mineral deposit. Before dark they all lay down again on a steeply -inclined jutting spur midway between the top and bottom of the canyon. - -Next morning I thought I would like to see them close up, so I walked -down three or four miles below where the canyon ended, crossed the -stream, and came up the other side until I got on what was literally the -stamping-ground of the sheep. Their tracks showed that they had spent -their time for many weeks, and probably for all the winter, within a -very narrow radius. For perhaps a mile and a half, or two miles at the -very outside, they had wandered to and fro on the summit of the canyon, -making what was almost a well-beaten path; always very near and usually -on the edge of the cliff, and hardly ever going more than a few yards -back into the grassy plain-and-hill country. Their tracks and dung -covered the ground. They had also evidently descended into the depths of -the canyon wherever there was the slightest break or even lowering in -the upper line of the basalt cliffs. Although mountain sheep often -browse in winter, I saw but few traces of browsing here; probably on the -sheer cliff side they always get some grazing. - -When I spied the band they were lying not far from the spot in which -they had lain the day before, and in the same position on the brink of -the canyon. They saw me and watched me with interest when I was two -hundred yards off, but they let me get up within forty yards and sit -down on a large stone to look at them, without running off. Most of them -were lying down, but a couple were feeding steadily throughout the time -I watched them. Suddenly one took the alarm and dashed straight over the -cliff, the others all following at once. I ran after them to the edge in -time to see the last yearling drop off the edge of the basalt cliff and -stop short on the sheer slope below, while the stones dislodged by his -hoofs rattled down the canyon. They all looked up at me with great -interest, and then strolled off to the edge of a jutting spur and lay -down almost directly underneath me and some fifty yards off. That -evening on my return to camp we watched the band make its way right down -to the river bed, going over places where it did not seem possible a -four-footed creature could pass. They halted to graze here and there, -and down the worst places they went very fast with great bounds. It was -a marvellous exhibition of climbing. - -After we had finished this horseback trip we went on sleds and skis to -the upper Geyser Basin and the Falls of the Yellowstone. Although it was -the third week in April, the snow was still several feet deep, and only -thoroughly trained snow horses could have taken the sleighs along, while -around the Yellowstone Falls it was possible to move only on snowshoes. -There was little life in those woods. In the upper basin I caught a -meadow mouse on the snow; I afterwards sent it to Hart Merriam, who told -me it was of a species he had described from Idaho, _Microtus nanus_; it -had not been previously found in the Yellowstone region. We saw an -occasional pine squirrel, snowshoe rabbit or marten; and in the open -meadows around the hot waters there were Canada geese and ducks of -several species, and now and then a coyote. Around camp Clark’s crows -and Stellar’s jays, and occasionally magpies, came to pick at the -refuse; and of course they were accompanied by the whiskey jacks, which -behaved with their usual astounding familiarity. At Norris Geyser Basin -there was a perfect chorus of bird music from robins, western purple -finches, juncos and mountain bluebirds. In the woods there were mountain -chickadees and pygmy nuthatches, together with an occasional woodpecker. -In the northern country we had come across a very few blue grouse and -ruffed grouse, both as tame as possible. We had seen a pygmy owl no -larger than a robin sitting on the top of a pine in broad daylight, and -uttering at short intervals a queer un-owl-like cry. - -[Illustration: - - OOM JOHN -] - -The birds that interested us most were the solitaires, and especially -the dippers or water-ousels. We were fortunate enough to hear the -solitaires sing not only when perched on trees, but on the wing, soaring -over a great canyon. They are striking birds in every way, and their -habit of singing while soaring, and their song, are alike noteworthy. -Once I heard a solitaire singing at the top of a canyon, and an ousel -also singing but a thousand feet below him; and in this case I thought -the ousel sang better than his unconscious rival. The ousels are to my -mind well-nigh the most attractive of all our birds, because of their -song, their extraordinary habits, their whole personality. They stay -through the winter in the Yellowstone because the waters are in many -places open. We heard them singing cheerfully, their ringing melody -having a certain suggestion of the winter wren’s. Usually they sang -while perched on some rock on the edge or in the middle of the stream; -but sometimes on the wing; and often just before dipping under the -torrent, or just after slipping out from it onto some ledge of rock or -ice. In the open places the Western meadow lark was uttering its -beautiful song; a real song as compared to the plaintive notes of its -Eastern brother, and though short, yet with continuity and tune as well -as melody. I love to hear the Eastern meadow lark in the early spring; -but I love still more the song of the Western meadow lark. No bird -escaped John Burroughs’ eye; no bird note escaped his ear. - -I cannot understand why the Old World ousel should have received such -comparatively scant attention in the books, whether from nature writers -or poets; whereas our ousel has greatly impressed all who know him. John -Muir’s description comes nearest doing him justice. To me he seems a -more striking bird than for instance the skylark; though of course I not -only admire but am very fond of the skylark. There are various pipits -and larks in our own country which sing in highest air, as does the -skylark, and their songs, though not as loud, are almost as sustained; -and though they lack the finer kind of melody, so does his. The ousel, -on the contrary, is a really brilliant singer, and in his habits he is -even farther removed from the commonplace and the uninteresting than the -lark himself. Some birds, such as the ousel, the mocking-bird, the -solitaire, show marked originality, marked distinction; others do not; -the chipping sparrow, for instance, while in no way objectionable (like -the imported house sparrow), is yet a hopelessly commonplace little bird -alike in looks, habits and voice. - -[Illustration: - - BEARS AND TOURISTS -] - -On the last day of my stay it was arranged that I should ride down from -Mammoth Hot Springs to the town of Gardiner, just outside the Park -limits, and there make an address at the laying of the corner-stone of -the arch by which the main road is to enter the Park. Some three -thousand people had gathered to attend the ceremonies. A little over a -mile from Gardiner we came down out of the hills to the flat plain; from -the hills we could see the crowd gathered around the arch waiting for me -to come. We put spurs to our horses and cantered rapidly toward the -appointed place, and on the way we passed within forty yards of a score -of blacktails, which merely moved to one side and looked at us, and -within almost as short a distance of half a dozen antelope. To any lover -of nature it could not help being a delightful thing to see the wild and -timid creatures of the wilderness rendered so tame; and their tameness -in the immediate neighborhood of Gardiner, on the very edge of the Park, -spoke volumes for the patriotic good sense of the citizens of Montana. -At times the antelope actually cross the Park line to Gardiner, which is -just outside, and feed unmolested in the very streets of the town; a -fact which shows how very far advanced the citizens of Gardiner are in -right feeling on this subject; for of course the Federal laws cease to -protect the antelope as soon as they are out of the Park. Major Pitcher -informed me that both the Montana and Wyoming people were cooperating -with him in zealous fashion to preserve the game and put a stop to -poaching. For their attitude in this regard they deserve the cordial -thanks of all Americans interested in these great popular playgrounds, -where bits of the old wilderness scenery and the old wilderness life are -to be kept unspoiled for the benefit of our children’s children. Eastern -people, and especially Eastern sportsmen, need to keep steadily in mind -the fact that the westerners who live in the neighborhood of the forest -preserves are the men who in the last resort will determine whether or -not these preserves are to be permanent. They cannot in the long run be -kept as forest and game reservations unless the settlers roundabout -believe in them and heartily support them; and the rights of these -settlers must be carefully safeguarded, and they must be shown that the -movement is really in their interest. The Eastern sportsman who fails to -recognize these facts can do little but harm by advocacy of forest -reserves. - -It was in the interior of the Park, at the hotels beside the lake, the -falls, and the various geyser basins, that we would have seen the bears -had the season been late enough; but unfortunately the bears were still -for the most part hibernating. We saw two or three tracks, but the -animals themselves had not yet begun to come about the hotels. Nor were -the hotels open. No visitors had previously entered the Park in the -winter or early spring, the scouts and other employees being the only -ones who occasionally traverse it. I was sorry not to see the bears, for -the effect of protection upon bear life in the Yellowstone has been one -of the phenomena of natural history. Not only have they grown to realize -that they are safe, but, being natural scavengers and foul feeders, they -have come to recognize the garbage heaps of the hotels as their special -sources of food supply. Throughout the summer months they come to all -the hotels in numbers, usually appearing in the late afternoon or -evening, and they have become as indifferent to the presence of men as -the deer themselves—some of them very much more indifferent. They have -now taken their place among the recognized sights of the Park, and the -tourists are nearly as much interested in them as in the geysers. In -mussing over the garbage heaps they sometimes get tin cans stuck on -their paws, and the result is painful. Buffalo Jones and some of the -other scouts in extreme cases rope the bear, tie him up, cut the tin can -off his paw, and let him go again. It is not an easy feat, but the -astonishing thing is that it should be performed at all. - -It was amusing to read the proclamations addressed to the tourists by -the Park management, in which they were solemnly warned that the bears -were really wild animals, and that they must on no account be either fed -or teased. It is curious to think that the descendants of the great -grizzlies which were the dread of the early explorers and hunters should -now be semi-domesticated creatures, boldly hanging around crowded hotels -for the sake of what they can pick up, and quite harmless so long as any -reasonable precaution is exercised. They are much safer, for instance, -than any ordinary bull or stallion, or even ram, and, in fact, there is -no danger from them at all unless they are encouraged to grow too -familiar or are in some way molested. Of course among the thousands of -tourists there is a percentage of fools; and when fools go out in the -afternoon to look at the bears feeding they occasionally bring -themselves into jeopardy by some senseless act. The black bears and the -cubs of the bigger bears can readily be driven up trees, and some of the -tourists occasionally do this. Most of the animals never think of -resenting it; but now and then one is run across which has its feelings -ruffled by the performance. In the summer of 1902 the result proved -disastrous to a too inquisitive tourist. He was travelling with his -wife, and at one of the hotels they went out toward the garbage pile to -see the bears feeding. The only bear in sight was a large she, which, as -it turned out, was in a bad temper because another party of tourists a -few minutes before had been chasing her cubs up a tree. The man left his -wife and walked toward the bear to see how close he could get. When he -was some distance off she charged him, whereupon he bolted back toward -his wife. The bear overtook him, knocked him down and bit him severely. -But the man’s wife, without hesitation, attacked the bear with that -thoroughly feminine weapon, an umbrella, and frightened her off. The man -spent several weeks in the Park hospital before he recovered. Perhaps -the following telegram sent by the manager of the Lake Hotel to Major -Pitcher illustrates with sufficient clearness the mutual relations of -the bears, the tourists, and the guardians of the public weal in the -Park. The original was sent me by Major Pitcher. It runs: - -“Lake. 7–27–’03. Major Pitcher, Yellowstone: As many as seventeen bears -in an evening appear on my garbage dump. To-night eight or ten. Campers -and people not of my hotel throw things at them to make them run away. I -cannot, unless there personally, control this. Do you think you could -detail a trooper to be there every evening from say six o’clock until -dark and make people remain behind danger line laid out by Warden Jones? -Otherwise I fear some accident. The arrest of one or two of these -campers might help. My own guests do pretty well as they are told. James -Barton Key. 9 A. M.” - -Major Pitcher issued the order as requested. - -At times the bears get so bold that they take to making inroads on the -kitchen. One completely terrorized a Chinese cook. It would drive him -off and then feast upon whatever was left behind. When a bear begins to -act in this way or to show surliness it is sometimes necessary to shoot -it. Other bears are tamed until they will feed out of the hand, and will -come at once if called. Not only have some of the soldiers and scouts -tamed bears in this fashion, but occasionally a chambermaid or waiter -girl at one of the hotels has thus developed a bear as a pet. - -[Illustration: - - GRIZZLY BEAR AND COOK -] - -The accompanying photographs not only show bears very close up, with men -standing by within a few yards of them, but they also show one bear -being fed from the piazza by a cook, and another standing beside a -particular friend, a chambermaid in one of the hotels. In these -photographs it will be seen that some are grizzlies and some black -bears. - -This whole episode of bear life in the Yellowstone is so extraordinary -that it will be well worth while for any man who has the right powers -and enough time, to make a complete study of the life and history of the -Yellowstone bears. Indeed, nothing better could be done by some of our -outdoor faunal naturalists than to spend at least a year in the -Yellowstone, and to study the life habits of all the wild creatures -therein. A man able to do this, and to write down accurately and -interestingly what he had seen, would make a contribution of permanent -value to our nature literature. - -In May, after leaving the Yellowstone, I visited the Grand Canyon of the -Colorado, and then went through the Yosemite Park with John Muir—the -companion above all others for such a trip. It is hard to make -comparisons among different kinds of scenery, all of them very grand and -very beautiful; but nothing that I have ever seen has impressed me quite -as much as the desolate and awful sublimity of the Grand Canyon of the -Colorado. I earnestly wish that Congress would make it a national park, -and I am sure that such course would meet the approbation of the people -of Arizona. The people of California with wise and generous forethought -have given the Yosemite Valley to the National Government to be kept as -a national park, just as the surrounding country, including some of the -groves of giant trees, has been kept. The flower-clad slopes of the -Sierras—golden with the blazing poppy, brilliant with lilies and tulips -and red-stemmed Manzinita bush—are unlike anything else in this country. -As for the giant trees, no words can describe their majesty and beauty. - -John Muir and I, with two packers and three pack mules, spent a -delightful three days in the Yosemite. The first night was clear, and we -lay in the open, on beds of soft fir boughs, among the huge, -cinnamon-colored trunks of the sequoias. It was like lying in a great -solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any built by hand -of man. Just at nightfall I heard, among other birds, thrushes which I -think were Rocky Mountain hermits—the appropriate choir for such a place -of worship. Next day we went by trail through the woods, seeing some -deer—which were not wild—as well as mountain quail and blue grouse. -Among the birds which we saw was a white-headed woodpecker; the -interesting carpenter woodpeckers were less numerous than lower down. In -the afternoon we struck snow, and had considerable difficulty in -breaking our trails. A snow-storm came on toward evening, but we kept -warm and comfortable in a grove of splendid silver firs—rightly named -“magnificent”—near the brink of the wonderful Yosemite Valley. Next day -we clambered down into it and at nightfall camped in its bottom, facing -the giant cliffs over which the waterfalls thundered. - -[Illustration: - - THE BEAR AND THE CHAMBERMAID -] - -Surely our people do not understand even yet the rich heritage that is -theirs. There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the -Yosemite, the groves of giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the -Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our -people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and -their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all -unmarred. - - - - - CHAPTER X - BOOKS ON BIG GAME - - -The nineteenth century was, beyond all others, the century of big game -hunters, and of books about big game. From the days of Nimrod to our own -there have been mighty hunters before the Lord, and most warlike and -masterful races have taken kindly to the chase, as chief among those -rough pastimes which appeal naturally to men with plenty of red blood in -their veins. But until the nineteenth century the difficulties of travel -were so great that men of our race with a taste for sport could rarely -gratify this taste except in their own neighborhood. The earlier among -the great conquering kings of Egypt and Assyria, when they made their -forays into Syria and the region of the Upper Euphrates, hunted the -elephant and the wild bull, as well as the lions with which the country -swarmed; and Tiglath-Pileser the First, as overlord of Phœnicia, -embarked on the Mediterranean, and there killed a “sea-monster,” -presumably a whale—a feat which has been paralleled by no sport-loving -sovereign of modern times, save by that stout hunter, the German Kaiser; -though I believe the present English King, like several members of his -family, has slain both elephants and tigers before he came to the -throne. But the elephant disappeared from Eastern Asia a thousand years -before our era; and the lion had become rare or unknown in lands where -the dwellers were of European stock, long before the days of written -records. - -There was good hunting in Macedonia in the days of Alexander the Great; -there was good hunting in the Hercynian Forest when Frank and Bergund -were turning Gaul into France; there was good hunting in Lithuania and -Poland as late as the days of Sobiéski; but the most famous kings and -nobles of Europe, within historic times, though they might kill the -aurochs and the bison, the bear and the boar, had no chance to test -their prowess against the mightier and more terrible beasts of the -tropics. - -No modern man could be more devoted to the chase than were the -territorial lords of the Middle Ages. Two of the most famous books of -the chase ever written were the _Livre de Chasse_ of Count Gaston de -Foix—Gaston Phœbus, well known to all readers of Froissart—and the -translation or adaptation and continuation of the same, the “Master of -Game,” by that Duke of York who “died victorious” at Agincourt. Mr. -Baillie-Grohman, himself a hunter and mountaineer of wide experience, a -trained writer and observer, and a close student of the hunting lore of -the past, has edited and reproduced the “Master of Game,” in form which -makes it a delight to every true lover of books no less than to every -true lover of sport. A very interesting little book is Clamorgan’s -_Chasse du Loup_, dedicated to Charles the Ninth of France; my copy is -of the edition of 1566. The text and the illustrations are almost -equally attractive. - -As the centuries passed it became more and more difficult to obtain -sport in the thickly settled parts of Europe save in the vast game -preserves of the Kings and great lords. These magnates of Continental -Europe, down to the beginning of the last century, followed the chase -with all the ardor of Gaston Phœbus; indeed, they erred generally on the -side of fantastic extravagance and exaggeration in their favorite -pursuit, turning it into a solemn and rather ridiculous business instead -of a healthy and vigorous pastime; but they could hunt only the beasts -of their own forests. The men who went on long voyages usually had quite -enough to do simply as travellers; the occupation of getting into -unknown lands, and of keeping alive when once in them, was in itself -sufficiently absorbing and hazardous to exclude any chance of combining -with it the role of sportsman. - -With the last century all this had changed. Even in the eighteenth -century it began to change. The Dutch settlers at the Cape of Good Hope, -and the English settlers on the Atlantic coast of North America, found -themselves thrown back into a stage of life where hunting was one of the -main means of livelihood, as well as the most exciting and adventurous -of pastimes. These men knew the chase as men of their race had not known -it since the days before history dawned; and until the closing decades -of the last century the Americans and the Afrikanders of the frontier -largely led the lives of professional hunters. Oom Paul and Buffalo Bill -led very different careers after they reached middle age; but in their -youth warfare against wild beasts and wild men was the most serious part -of the life-work of both. They and their fellows did the rough pioneer -work of civilization, under conditions which have now vanished for ever, -and their type will perish with the passing of the forces that called it -into being. But the big game hunter, whose campaigns against big game -are not simply incidents in his career as a pioneer settler, will remain -with us for some time longer; and it is of him and his writings that we -wish to treat. - -Toward the end of the eighteenth century this big game hunter had -already appeared, although, like all early types, he was not yet -thoroughly specialized. Le Vaillant hunted in South Africa, and his -volumes are excellent reading now. A still better book is that of Bruce, -the Abyssinian explorer, who was a kind of Burton of his days, with a -marvellous faculty for getting into quarrels, but an even more -marvellous faculty for doing work which no other man could do. He really -opened a new world to European men of letters and science; who thereupon -promptly united in disbelieving all he said, though they were credulous -enough toward people who really should have been distrusted. But his -tales have been proved true by many an explorer since then, and his book -will always possess interest for big game hunters, because of his -experiences in the chase. Sometimes he shot merely in self-defense or -for food, but he also made regular hunting trips in company with the -wild lords of the shifting frontier between dusky Christian and dusky -infidel. He feasted in their cane palaces, where the walls were hung -with the trophies of giant game, and in their company, with horse and -spear, he attacked and overcame the buffalo and the rhinoceros. - -By the beginning of the nineteenth century the hunting book proper -became differentiated, as it were, from the book of the explorer. One of -the earliest was Williamson’s “Oriental Field Sports.” This is to the -present day a most satisfactory book, especially to sporting parents -with large families of small children. The pictures are all in colors, -and the foliage is so very green, and the tigers are so very red, and -the boars so very black, and the tragedies so uncommonly vivid and -startling, that for the youthful mind the book really has no formidable -rival outside of the charmed circle where Slovenly Peter stands first. - -Since then multitudes of books have been written about big game hunting. -Most of them are bad, of course, just as most novels and most poems are -bad; but some of them are very good indeed, while a few are entitled to -rank high in literature—though it cannot be said that as yet big game -hunters as a whole have produced such writers as those who dwell on the -homelier and less grandiose side of nature. They have not produced a -White or Burroughs, for instance. What could not Burroughs have done if -only he had cared for adventure and for the rifle, and had roamed across -the Great Plains and the Rockies, and through the dim forests, as he has -wandered along the banks of the Hudson and the Potomac! Thoreau, it is -true, did go to the Maine Woods; but then Thoreau was a -transcendentalist and slightly anæmic. A man must feel the beat of hardy -life in his veins before he can be a good big game hunter. Fortunately, -Richard Jeffries has written an altogether charming little volume on the -Red Deer, so that there is at least one game animal which has been fully -described by a man of letters, who was also both a naturalist and a -sportsman; but it is irritating to think that no one has done as much -for the lordlier game of the wilderness. Not only should the hunter be -able to describe vividly the chase, and the life habits of the quarry, -but he should also draw the wilderness itself, and the life of those who -dwell or sojourn therein. We wish to see before us the cautious stalk -and the headlong gallop; the great beasts as they feed or rest or run or -make love or fight; the wild hunting camps; the endless plains -shimmering in the sunlight; the vast, solemn forests; the desert and the -marsh and the mountain chain; and all that lies hidden in the lonely -lands through which the wilderness wanderer roams and hunts game. - -But there remain a goodly number of books which are not merely filled -with truthful information of importance, but which are also absorbingly -interesting; and if a book is both truthful and interesting it is surely -entitled to a place somewhere in general literature. Unfortunately, the -first requisite bars out a great many hunting-books. There are not a few -mighty hunters who have left long records of their achievements, and who -undoubtedly did achieve a great deal, but who contrive to leave in the -mind of the reader the uncomfortable suspicion, that besides their -prowess with the rifle they were skilled in the use of that more archaic -weapon, the long bow. “The Old Shekarry,” who wrote of Indian and -African sport, was one of these. Gerard was a great lion-killer, but -some of his accounts of the lives, deaths, and especially the -courtships, of lions, bear much less relation to actual facts than do -the novels of Dumas. Not a few of the productions of hunters of this -type should be grouped under the head-lines used by the newspapers of -our native land in describing something which they are perfectly sure -hasn’t happened—“Important, if True.” The exactly opposite type is -presented in another Frenchman, M. Foa, a really great hunter who also -knows how to observe and to put down what he has observed. His two books -on big game hunting in Africa have permanent value. - -If we were limited to the choice of one big game writer, who was merely -such, and not in addition a scientific observer, we should have to -choose Sir Samuel Baker, for his experiences are very wide, and we can -accept without question all that he says in his books. He hunted in -India, in Africa, and in North America; he killed all the chief kinds of -heavy and dangerous game; and he followed them on foot and on horseback, -with the rifle and the knife, and with hounds. For the same reason, if -we could choose but one work, it would have to be the volumes of “Big -Game Shooting,” in the Badminton Library, edited by Mr. Phillipps -Wolley—himself a man who has written well of big game hunting in -out-of-the-way places, from the Caucasus to the Cascades. These volumes -contain pieces by many different authors; but they differ from most -volumes of the kind in that all the writers are trustworthy and -interesting; though the palm must be given to Oswell’s delightful -account of his South African hunting. The book on the game beasts of -Africa edited by Mr. Bryden is admirable in every way. - -[Illustration: - - THE NORTH ROOM AT SAGAMORE HILL -] - -In all these books the one point to be insisted on is that a big game -hunter has nothing in common with so many of the men who delight to call -themselves sportsmen. Sir Samuel Baker has left a very amusing record of -the horror he felt for the Ceylon sportsmen who, by the term “sport,” -meant horse-racing instead of elephant shooting. Half a century ago, -Gordon-Cumming wrote of “the life of the wild hunter, so far preferable -to that of the mere sportsman”; and his justification for this somewhat -sneering reference to the man who takes his sport in too artificial a -manner, may be found in the pages of a then noted authority on such -sports as horse-racing and fox-hunting; for in Apperly’s “Nimrod -Abroad,” in the course of an article on the game of the American -wilderness, there occurs this delicious sentence: “A damper, however, is -thrown over all systems of deer-stalking in Canada by the necessity, -which is said to be unavoidable, of bivouacking in the woods instead of -in well-aired sheets!” Verily, there was a great gulf between the two -men. - -In the present century the world has known three great hunting-grounds: -Africa, from the equator to the southernmost point; India, both farther -and hither; and North America west of the Mississippi, from the Rio -Grande to the Arctic Circle. The latter never approached either of the -former in the wealth and variety of the species, or in the size and -terror of the chief beasts of the chase; but it surpassed India in the -countless numbers of the individual animals, and in the wild and unknown -nature of the hunting-grounds, while the climate and surroundings made -the conditions under which the hunter worked pleasanter and healthier -than those in any other land. - -South Africa was the true hunter’s paradise. If the happy -hunting-grounds were to be found anywhere in this world, they lay -between the Orange and the Zambesi, and extended northward here and -there to the Nile countries and Somaliland. Nowhere else were there such -multitudes of game, representing so many and such widely different kinds -of animals, of such size, such beauty, such infinite variety. We should -have to go back to the fauna of the Pleistocene to find its equal. Never -before did men enjoy such hunting as fell to the lot of those roving -adventurers, who first penetrated its hidden fastnesses, camped by its -shrunken rivers, and galloped over its sun-scorched wastes; and, alas -that it should be written, no man will ever see the like again. -Fortunately, its memory will forever be kept alive in some of the books -that the great hunters have written about it, such as Cornwallis Harris’ -“Wild Sports of South Africa,” Gordon-Cumming’s “Hunter’s Life in South -Africa,” Baldwin’s “African Hunting,” Drummond’s “Large Game and Natural -History of South Africa,” and, best of all, Selous’ two books, “A -Hunter’s Wanderings in South Africa” and “Travel and Adventure in -Southeast Africa.” Selous was the last of the great hunters of South -Africa, and no other has left books of such value as his. In central -Africa the game has lasted to our own time; the hunting described by -Alfred Neumann and Vaughn Kirby in the closing years of the nineteenth -century was almost as good as any enjoyed by their brothers who fifty -years before steered their ox-drawn wagons across the “high veldt” of -the south land. - -Moreover, the pencil has done its part as well as the pen. Harris, who -was the pioneer of all the hunters, published an admirable illustrated -folio entitled “The Game and Wild Animals of South Africa.” It is -perhaps of more value than any other single work of the kind. J. G. -Millais, in “A Breath from the Veldt,” has rendered a unique service, -not only by his charming descriptions, but by his really extraordinary -sketches of the South African antelopes, both at rest, and in every -imaginable form of motion. Nearly at the other end of the continent -there is an admirable book on lion-hunting in Somaliland, by Captain C. -J. Melliss. Much information about big game can be taken from the books -of various missionaries and explorers; Livingstone and Du Chaillu doing -for Africa in this respect what Catlin did for North America. - -As we have said before, one great merit of these books is that they are -interesting. Quite a number of men who are good sportsmen, as well as -men of means, have written books about their experiences in Africa; but -the trouble with too many of these short and simple annals of the rich -is, that they are very dull. They are not literature, any more than -treatises on farriery and cooking are literature. To read a mere -itinerary is like reading a guide-book. No great enthusiasm in the -reader can be roused by such a statement as “this day walked -twenty-three miles, shot one giraffe and two zebras; porter deserted -with the load containing the spare boots”; and the most exciting events, -if chronicled simply as “shot three rhinos and two buffalo; the first -rhino and both buffalo charged,” become about as thrilling as a -paragraph in Baedeker. There is no need of additional literature of the -guide-book and cookery-book kind. “Fine writing” is, of course, -abhorrent in a way that is not possible for mere baldness of statement, -and would-be “funny” writing is even worse, as it almost invariably -denotes an underbred quality of mind; but there is need of a certain -amount of detail, and of vivid and graphic, though simple, description. -In other words, the writer on big game should avoid equally Carlyle’s -theory and Carlyle’s practice in the matter of verbosity. Really good -game books are sure to contain descriptions which linger in the mind -just like one’s pet passages in any other good book. One example is -Selous’ account of his night watch close to the wagon, when in the -pitchy darkness he killed three of the five lions which had attacked his -oxen; or his extraordinary experience while hunting elephants on a -stallion which turned sulky, and declined to gallop out of danger. The -same is true of Drummond’s descriptions of the camps of native hunting -parties, of tracking wounded buffalo through the reeds, and of waiting -for rhinos by a desert pool under the brilliancy of the South African -moon; descriptions, by the way, which show that the power of writing -interestingly is not dependent upon even approximate correctness in -style, for some of Mr. Drummond’s sentences, in point of length and -involution, would compare not unfavorably with those of a Populist -Senator discussing bimetallism. Drummond is not as trustworthy an -observer as Selous. - -The experiences of a hunter in Africa, with its teeming wealth of -strange and uncouth beasts, must have been, and in places must still be, -about what one’s experience would be if one could suddenly go back a few -hundred thousand years for a hunting trip in the Pliocene or -Pleistocene. In Mr. Astor Chanler’s book, “Through Jungle and Desert,” -the record of his trip through the melancholy reed beds of the Guaso -Nyiro, and of his return journey, carrying his wounded companion, -through regions where the caravan was perpetually charged by rhinoceros, -reads like a bit out of the unreckoned ages of the past, before the huge -and fierce monsters of old had vanished from the earth, or acknowledged -man as their master. An excellent book of mixed hunting and scientific -exploration is Mr. Donaldson Smith’s “Through Unknown African -Countries.” If anything, the hunting part is unduly sacrificed to some -of the minor scientific work. Full knowledge of a new breed of -rhinoceros, or a full description of the life history and chase of -almost any kind of big game, is worth more than any quantity of matter -about new spiders and scorpions. Small birds and insects remain in the -land, and can always be described by the shoal of scientific -investigators who follow the first adventurous explorers; but it is only -the pioneer hunter who can tell us all about the far more interesting -and important beasts of the chase, the different kinds of big game, and -especially dangerous big game; and it is a mistake in any way to -subordinate the greater work to the lesser. - -Books on big game hunting in India are as plentiful, and as good, as -those about Africa. Forsyth’s “Highlands of Central India,” Sanderson’s -“Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India,” Shakespeare’s “Wild -Sports of India,” and Kinloch’s “Large Game Shooting,” are perhaps the -best; but there are many other writers, like Markham, Baldwin, Rice, -Macintyre, and Stone, who are also very good. Indeed, to give even a -mere list of the titles of the good books on Indian shooting would read -too much like the Homeric catalogue of ships, or the biblical -generations of the Jewish patriarchs. The four books singled out for -special reference are interesting reading for anyone; particularly the -accounts of the deaths of man-eating tigers at the hands of Forsyth, -Shakespeare, and Sanderson, and some of Kinloch’s Himalayan stalks. It -is indeed royal sport which the hunter has among the stupendous mountain -masses of the Himalayas, and in the rank jungles and steamy tropical -forests of India. - -Hunting should go hand in hand with the love of natural history, as well -as with descriptive and narrative power. Hornaday’s “Two Years in the -Jungle” is especially interesting to the naturalist; but he adds not a -little to our knowledge of big game. It is earnestly to be wished that -some hunter will do for the gorilla what Hornaday has done for the great -East Indian ape, the mias or orang. - -There are many good books on American big game, but, rather curiously, -they are for the most part modern. Until within the present generation -Americans only hunted big game if they were frontier settlers, -professional trappers, Southern planters, army officers, or explorers. -The people of the cities of the old States were bred in the pleasing -faith that anything unconcerned with business was both a waste of time -and presumably immoral. Those who travelled went to Europe instead of to -the Rocky Mountains. - -Throughout the pioneer stages of American history, big game hunting was -not merely a pleasure, but a business, and often a very important and in -fact vital business. At different times many of the men who rose to -great distinction in our after history took part in it as such: men like -Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, for instance. Moreover, aside from these -pioneers who afterward won distinction purely as statesmen or soldiers, -there were other members of the class of professional hunters—men who -never became eminent in the complex life of the old civilized regions, -who always remained hunters, and gloried in the title—who, nevertheless, -through and because of their life in the wilderness, rose to national -fame and left their mark on our history. The three most famous men of -this class were Daniel Boone, David Crockett, and Kit Carson, who were -renowned in every quarter of the Union for their skill as game-killers, -Indian-fighters, and wilderness explorers, and whose deeds are still -stock themes in the floating legendary lore of the border. They stand -for all time as types of the pioneer settlers who won our land; the -bridge-builders, the road-makers the forest-fellers, the explorers, the -land-tillers, the mighty men of their hands, who laid the foundations of -this great commonwealth. - -There are good descriptions of big game hunting in the books of writers -like Catlin, but they come in incidentally. Elliott’s “South Carolina -Field Sports” is a very interesting and entirely trustworthy record of -the sporting side of existence on the old Southern plantations, and not -only commemorates how the planters hunted bear, deer, fox, and wildcat -on the uplands and in the canebrakes, but also gives a unique -description of harpooning the great devil-fish in the warm Southern -waters. John Palliser, an Englishman, in his “Solitary Hunter,” has -given us the best descriptions of hunting in the far West, when it was -still an untrodden wilderness. Another Englishman, Ruxton, in two -volumes, has left us a most vivid picture of the old hunters and -trappers themselves. Unfortunately, these old hunters and trappers, the -men who had most experience in the life of the wilderness, were utterly -unable to write about it; they could not tell what they had seen or -done. Occasional attempts have been made to get noted hunters to write -books, either personally or by proxy, but these attempts have not as a -rule been successful. Perhaps the best of the books thus produced is -Hittell’s “Adventures of James Capen Adams, Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear -Hunter.” - -The first effort to get men of means and cultivation in the Northern and -Eastern States of the Union to look at field sports in the right light -was made by an Englishman who wrote over the signature of Frank -Forrester. He did much for the shotgun men; but, unfortunately, he was a -true cockney, who cared little for really wild sports, and he was -afflicted with that dreadful pedantry which pays more heed to ceremonial -and terminology than to the thing itself. He was sincerely distressed -because the male of the ordinary American deer was called a buck instead -of a stag; and it seemed to him to be a matter of moment whether one -spoke of a “gang” or a “herd” of elk. - -There are plenty of excellent books nowadays, however. The best book -upon the old plains country was Colonel Richard Irving Dodge’s -“Hunting-Grounds of the Great West,” which dealt with the chase of most -kinds of plains game proper. Judge Caton, in his “Antelope and Deer of -America,” gave a full account of not only the habits and appearance, but -the methods of chase and life histories of the prongbuck, and of all the -different kinds of deer found in the United States. Dr. Allen, in his -memoir on the bisons of America, and Hornaday, in his book upon their -extermination, have rendered similar service for the vast herds of -shaggy-maned wild cattle which have vanished with such melancholy -rapidity during the lifetime of the present generation. Mr. Van Dyke’s -“Still-Hunter” is a noteworthy book, which, for the first time, -approaches the still-hunter and his favorite game, the deer, from what -may be called the standpoint of the scientific sportsman. It is one of -the few hunting-books which should really be studied by the beginner -because of what he can learn therefrom in reference to the hunter’s -craft. The Century Co.’s volume “Sport With Gun and Rod” contains -accounts of the chase of most of the kinds of American big game, -although there are two or three notable omissions, such as the elk, the -grizzly bear, and the white goat. Warburton Pike, Caspar Whitney, and -Frederick Schwatka have given fairly full and very interesting accounts -of boreal sport; and Pendarves Vivian and Baillie-Grohman of hunting -trips in the Rockies. A new and most important departure, that of -photographing wild animals in their homes, was marked by Mr. Wallihan’s -“Camera Shots at Big Game.” This is a noteworthy volume. Mr. Wallihan -was the pioneer in a work which is of the utmost importance to the -naturalist, the man of science; and what he accomplished was far more -creditable to himself, and of far more importance to others, than any -amount of game-killing. Finally, in Parkman’s “Oregon Trail” and -Irving’s “Trip on the Prairie,” two great writers have left us a lasting -record of the free life of the rifle-bearing wanderers who first hunted -in the wild Western lands. - -Though not hunting-books, John Burroughs’ writings and John Muir’s -volumes on the Sierras should be in the hands of every lover of outdoor -life, and therefore in the hands of every hunter who is a nature lover, -and not a mere game-butcher. - -Of course, there are plenty of books on European game. Scrope’s “Art of -Deerstalking,” Bromley Davenport’s “Sport,” and all the books of Charles -St. John, are classic. The chase of the wolf and boar is excellently -described by an unnamed writer in “Wolf-Hunting and Wild Sports of -Brittany.” Baillie-Grohman’s “Sport in the Alps” is devoted to the -mountain game of Central Europe, and is, moreover, a mine of curious -hunting lore, most of which is entirely new to men unacquainted with the -history of the chase in Continental Europe during the last few -centuries. An entirely novel type of adventure was set forth in Lamont’s -“Seasons with the Sea Horses,” wherein he described his hunting in -arctic waters with rifle and harpoon. Lloyd’s “Scandinavian Adventures” -and “Northern Field Sports,” and Whishaw’s “Out of Doors in Tsar Land,” -tell of the life and game of the snowy northern forests. Chapman has -done excellent work for both Norway and Spain. It would be impossible -even to allude to the German and French books on the chase, such as the -admirable but rather technical treatises of Le Couteulx de Canteleu. -Moreover, these books for the most part belong rather in the category -which includes English fox-hunting literature, not in that which deals -with big game and the life of the wilderness. This is merely to state a -difference—not to draw a comparison; for the artificial sports of highly -civilized countries are strongly to be commended for their effect on -national character in making good the loss of certain of the rougher -virtues which tend to disappear with the rougher conditions. - -In Mr. Edward North Buxton’s two volumes of “Short Stalks” we find the -books of a man who is a hardy lover of nature, a skilled hunter, but not -a game-butcher; a man who has too much serious work on hand ever to let -himself become a mere globe-trotting rifleman. His volumes teach us just -what a big game hunter, a true sportsman, should be. But the best recent -book on the wilderness is Herr C. G. Schilling’s “Mit Blitzlicht und -Büchse,” giving the writer’s hunting adventures, and above all his acute -scientific observations and his extraordinary photographic work among -the teeming wild creatures of German East Africa. Mr. Schilling is a -great field naturalist, a trained scientific observer, as well as a -mighty hunter; and no mere hunter can ever do work even remotely -approaching in value that which he has done. His book should be -translated into English at once. Every effort should be made to turn the -modern big game hunter into the Schilling type of adventure-loving field -naturalist and observer. - -I am not disposed to undervalue manly outdoor sports, or to fail to -appreciate the advantage to a nation, as well as to an individual, of -such pastimes; but they must be pastimes, and not business, and they -must not be carried to excess. There is much to be said for the life of -a professional hunter in lonely lands; but the man able to be something -more, should be that something more—an explorer, a naturalist, or else a -man who makes his hunting trips merely delightful interludes in his life -work. As for excessive game-butchery, it amounts to a repulsive debauch. -The man whose chief title to glory is that, during an industrious career -of destruction, he has slaughtered 200,000 head of deer and partridges, -stands unpleasantly near those continental kings and nobles who, during -the centuries before the French Revolution, deified the chase of the -stag, and made it into a highly artificial cult, which they followed to -the exclusion of State-craft and war-craft and everything else. James, -the founder of the ignoble English branch of the Stuart kings, as -unkingly a man as ever sat on a throne, was fanatical in his devotion to -the artificial kind of chase which then absorbed the souls of the -magnates of continental Europe. - -There is no need to exercise much patience with men who protest against -field sports, unless, indeed, they are logical vegetarians of the -flabbiest Hindoo type. If no deer or rabbits were killed, no crops could -be cultivated. If it is morally right to kill an animal to eat its body, -then it is morally right to kill it to preserve its head. A good -sportsman will not hesitate as to the relative value he puts upon the -two, and to get the one he will go a long time without eating the other. -No nation facing the unhealthy softening and relaxation of fibre which -tend to accompany civilization can afford to neglect anything that will -develop hardihood, resolution, and the scorn of discomfort and danger. -But if sport is made an end instead of a means, it is better to avoid it -altogether. The greatest stag-hunter of the seventeenth century was the -Elector of Saxony. During the Thirty Years’ War he killed some 80,000 -deer and boar. Now, if there ever was a time when a ruler needed to -apply himself to serious matters, it was during the Thirty Years’ War in -Germany, and if the Elector in question had eschewed hunting he might -have compared more favorably with Gustavus Adolphus in his own -generation, or the Great Elector of Brandenburg in the next generation. -The kings of the House of Savoy have shown that the love of hardy field -sports in no way interferes with the exercise of the highest kind of -governmental ability. - -Wellington was fond of fox-hunting, but he did very little of it during -the period of the Peninsular War. Grant cared much for fine horses, but -he devoted his attention to other matters when facing Lee before -Richmond. Perhaps as good an illustration as could be wished of the -effects of the opposite course is furnished by poor Louis XVI. He took -his sport more seriously than he did his position as ruler of his -people. On the day when the revolutionary mob came to Versailles, he -merely recorded in his diary that he had “gone out shooting, and had -killed eighty-one head when he was interrupted by events.” The -particular event to which this “interruption” led up was the guillotine. -Not many sportsmen have to face such a possibility; but they do run the -risk of becoming a curse to themselves and to everyone else, if they -once get into the frame of mind which can look on the business of life -as merely an interruption to sport. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - AT HOME - - -Only a few men, comparatively speaking, lead their lives in the -wilderness; only a few others, again speaking comparatively, are able to -take their holidays in the shape of hunting trips in the wilderness. But -all who live in the country, or who even spend a month now and then in -the country, can enjoy outdoor life themselves, and can see that their -children enjoy it in the hardy fashion which will do them good. Camping -out, and therefore the cultivation of the capacity to live in the open, -and the education of the faculties which teach observation, -resourcefulness, self-reliance, are within the reach of all who really -care for the life of the woods, the fields, and the waters. Marksmanship -with the rifle can be cultivated with small cost or trouble; and if any -one passes much time in the country he can, if only he chooses, learn -much about horsemanship. - -But aside from any such benefit, it is an incalculable added pleasure to -any one’s sum of happiness if he or she grows to know, even slightly and -imperfectly, how to read and enjoy the wonder-book of nature. All -hunters should be nature lovers. It is to be hoped that the days of mere -wasteful, boastful slaughter, are past, and that from now on the hunter -will stand foremost in working for the preservation and perpetuation of -the wild life, whether big or little. - -[Illustration: - - RENOWN - - From a photograph by Arthur Hewitt -] - -The Audubon Society and kindred organizations have done much for the -proper protection of birds and of wild creatures generally; they have -taken the lead in putting a stop to wanton or short-sighted destruction, -and in giving effective utterance to the desires of those who wish to -cultivate a spirit as far removed as possible from that which brings -about such destruction. Sometimes, however, in endeavoring to impress -upon a not easily aroused public the need for action, they in their zeal -overstate this need. This is a very venial error compared to the good -they have done; but in the interest of scientific accuracy it is to be -desired that their cause should not be buttressed in such manner. Many -of our birds have diminished lamentably in numbers, and there is every -reason for taking steps to preserve them. There are water birds, shore -birds, game birds, and an occasional conspicuous bird of some other -kind, which can only be preserved by such agitation. It is also most -desirable to prevent the slaughter of small birds in the neighborhood of -towns. But I question very much whether there has been any diminution of -small-bird life throughout the country at large. Certainly no such -diminution has taken place during the past thirty years in any region of -considerable size with which I am personally acquainted. Take Long -Island, for instance. During this period there has been a lamentable -decrease in the waders—the shore-birds—which used to flock along its -southern shore. But in northern Long Island, in the neighborhood of my -own home, birds, taken as a whole, are quite as plentiful as they were -when I was a boy. There are one or two species which have decreased in -numbers, notably the woodcock; while the passenger pigeon, which was -then a rarely seen straggler, does not now appear at all. Bobwhites are -less plentiful. On the other hand, some birds have certainly increased -in numbers. This is true, for instance, of the conspicuously beautiful -and showy scarlet tanager. I think meadow larks are rather more -plentiful than they were, and wrens less so. Bluebirds have never been -common with us, but are now rather more common than formerly. It seems -to me as if the chickadees were more numerous than formerly. Purple -grackles are more plentiful than when I was a boy, and the far more -attractive redwing blackbirds less so. But these may all be, and -doubtless some must be, purely local changes, which apply only to our -immediate neighborhood. As regards most of the birds, it would be hard -to say that there has been any change. Of course, obvious local causes -will now and then account for a partial change. Thus, while the little -green herons are quite as plentiful as formerly in our immediate -neighborhood, the white-crowned night herons are not as plentiful, -because they abandoned their big heronry on Lloyd’s Neck upon the -erection of a sand-mill close by. The only ducks which are now, or at -any time during the last thirty years have been, abundant in our -neighborhood are the surf-ducks or scoters, and the old-squaws, -sometimes known as long-tailed or sou’-sou’-southerly ducks. From late -fall until early spring the continuous musical clangor of the great -flocks of sou’-sou’-southerlies, sounding across the steel-gray, wintry -waves, is well known to all who sail the waters of the Sound. - -Neither the birds nor the flowers are as numerous on Long Island, or at -any rate in my neighborhood, as they are, for instance, along the Hudson -and near Washington. It is hard to say exactly why flowers and birds are -at times so local in their distribution. For instance, the bobolinks -hardly ever come around us at Sagamore Hill. Within a radius of three or -four miles of the house I do not remember to have ever seen more than -two or three couples breeding. Sharp-tailed finches are common in the -marsh which lies back of our beach; but the closely allied seaside -finches and the interesting and attractive little marsh wrens, both of -which are common in various parts of Long Island, are not found near our -home. Similarly, I know of but one place near our house where the -bloodroot grows; the may-flowers are plentiful, but among hillsides to -all appearance equally favored, are found on some, and not on others. -For wealth of bloom, aside from the orchards, we must rely chiefly upon -the great masses of laurel and the many groves of locusts. The bloom of -the locust is as evanescent as it is fragrant. During the short time -that the trees are in flower the whole air is heavy with the sweet -scent. In the fall, in the days of the aster and the golden-rod, there -is no such brilliant coloring on Long Island as farther north, for we -miss from among the forest hues the flaming crimsons and scarlets of the -northern maples. - -[Illustration: - - HIS FIRST BUCK -] - -Among Long Island singers the wood thrushes are the sweetest; they nest -right around our house, and also in the more open woods of oak, hickory, -and chestnut, where their serene, leisurely songs ring through the leafy -arches all day long, but especially at daybreak and in the afternoons. -Baltimore orioles, beautiful of voice and plumage, hang their nests in a -young elm near a corner of the porch; robins, catbirds, valiant -kingbirds, song-sparrows, chippies, bright colored thistle-finches, nest -within a stone’s throw of the house, in the shrubbery or among the -birches and maples; grasshopper sparrows, humble little creatures with -insect-like voices, nest almost as close, in the open field, just beyond -the line where the grass is kept cut; humming-birds visit the -honeysuckles and trumpet-flowers; chimney swallows build in the -chimneys; barn swallows nest in the stable and old barn, wrens in the -bushes near by. Downy woodpeckers and many other birds make their homes -in the old orchard; during the migrations it is alive with warblers. -Towhees, thrashers, and Maryland yellow-throats build and sing in the -hedges by the garden; bush sparrows and dainty little prairie warblers -in the cedar-grown field beyond. Red-wing blackbirds haunt the wet -places. Chickadees wander everywhere; the wood-pewees, red-eyed vireos, -and black-and-white creepers keep to the tall timber, where the wary, -thievish jays chatter, and the great-crested fly-catchers flit and -scream. In the early spring, when the woods are still bare, when the -hen-hawks cry as they soar high in the upper air, and the flickers call -and drum on the dead trees, the strong, plaintive note of the meadow -lark is one of the most noticeable and most attractive sounds. On the -other hand, the cooing of the mourning doves is most noticeable in the -still, hot summer days. In the thick tangles chats creep and flutter and -jerk, and chuckle and whoop as they sing; I have heard them sing by -night. The cedar birds offer the most absolute contrast to the chats, in -voice, manner, and habits. They never hide, they are never fussy or -noisy; they always behave as if they were so well-bred that it is -impossible to resent the inroads the soft, quiet, pretty creatures make -among the cherries. One flicker became possessed of a mania to dig its -hole in one corner of the house, just under the roof. It hammered -lustily at boards and shingles, and returned whenever driven away; until -at last we were reluctantly forced to decree its death. Oven-birds are -very plentiful, and it seems to me that their flight song is more -frequently given after dusk than in daylight. It is sometimes given when -the whippoorwills are calling. In late June evenings, especially by -moonlight, but occasionally even when the night is dark, we hear this -song from the foot of the hill where the woods begin. There seems to be -one particular corner where year after year one or more oven-birds dwell -which possess an especial fondness for this night-singing in the air. It -is a pity the little eared owl is called screech-owl. Its tremulous, -quavering cry is not a screech at all, and has an attraction of its own. -These little owls come up to the house after dark, and are fond of -sitting on the elk antlers over the gable. When the moon is up, by -choosing one’s position, the little owl appears in sharp outline against -the bright disk, seated on his many-tined perch. - -[Illustration: - - ALGONQUIN AND SKIP -] - -The neighborhood of Washington abounds in birds no less than in flowers. -There have been one or two rather curious changes among its birds since -John Burroughs wrote of them forty years ago. He speaks of the -red-headed woodpecker as being then one of the most abundant of all -birds—even more so than the robin. It is not uncommon now, and a pair -have for three years nested in the White House grounds; but it is at -present by no means an abundant bird. On the other hand, John Burroughs -never saw any mocking-birds, whereas during the last few years these -have been increasing in numbers, and there are now several places within -easy walking or riding distance where we are almost sure to find them. -The mocking-bird is as conspicuous as it is attractive, and when at its -best it is the sweetest singer of all birds; though its talent for -mimicry, and a certain odd perversity in its nature, often combine to -mar its performances. The way it flutters and dances in the air when -settling in a tree-top, its alert intelligence, its good looks, and the -comparative ease with which it can be made friendly and familiar, all -add to its charm. I am sorry to say that it does not nest in the White -House grounds. Neither does the wood thrush, which is so abundant in -Rock Creek Park, within the city limits. Numbers of robins, -song-sparrows, sputtering, creaking purple grackles—crow blackbirds—and -catbirds nest in the grounds. So, I regret to say, do crows, the sworn -foes of all small birds, and as such entitled to no mercy. The hearty, -wholesome, vigorous songs of the robins, and the sweet, homelike strains -of the song-sparrows are the first to be regularly heard in the grounds, -and they lead the chorus. The catbirds chime in later; they are queer, -familiar, strongly individual birds, and are really good singers; but -they persist in interrupting their songs with catlike squalling. Two or -three pairs of flickers nest with us, as well as the red-headed -woodpeckers above mentioned; and a pair of furtive cuckoos. A pair of -orchard orioles nested with us one spring, but not again; the redstarts, -warbling vireos, and summer warblers have been more faithful. Baltimore -orioles frequently visit us, as do the scarlet tanagers and tufted -titmice, but for some reason they have not nested here. This spring a -cardinal bird took up his abode in the neighborhood of the White House, -and now and then waked us in the morning by his vigorous whistling in a -magnolia tree just outside our windows. A Carolina wren also spent the -winter with us, and sang freely. In both spring and fall the -white-throated sparrows sing while stopping over in the course of their -migrations. Their delicate, plaintive, musical notes are among the most -attractive of bird sounds. In the early spring we sometimes hear the -fox-sparrows and tree-sparrows, and of course the twittering snow-birds. -Later warblers of many kinds throng the trees around the house. Rabbits -breed in the grounds, and every now and then possums wander into them. -Gray squirrels are numerous, and some of them so tame that they will eat -out of our hands. In spring they cut the flowers from the stately tulip -trees. In the hot June days the indigo birds are especially in evidence -among the singers around Washington; they do not mind the heat at all, -but perch in the tops of little trees in the full glare of the sun, and -chant their not very musical, but to my ears rather pleasing, song -throughout the long afternoons. This June two new guests came to the -White House in the shape of two little saw-whet owls; little bits of -fellows, with round heads, and no head tufts, or “ears.” I think they -were the young of the year; they never uttered the saw-whet sound, but -made soft snoring noises. They always appeared after nightfall, when we -were sitting on the south porch, in the warm, starlit darkness. They -were fearless and unsuspicious. Sometimes they flew noiselessly to and -fro, and seemingly caught big insects on the wing. At other times they -would perch on the iron awning-bars, directly overhead. Once one of them -perched over one of the windows, and sat motionless, looking exactly -like an owl of Pallas Athene. - -[Illustration: - - PETER RABBIT - - From a photograph, copyright, 1904, by E. S. Curtis -] - -At Sagamore Hill we like to have the wood-folk and field-folk familiar; -but there are necessary bounds to such familiarity where chickens are -kept for use and where the dogs are valued family friends. The rabbits -and gray squirrels are as plenty as ever. The flying squirrels and -chipmunks still hold their own; so do the muskrats in the marshes. The -woodchucks, which we used to watch as we sat in rocking-chairs on the -broad veranda, have disappeared; but recently one has made himself a -home under the old barn, where we are doing our best to protect him. A -mink which lived by the edge of the bay under a great pile of lumber had -to be killed; its lair showed the remains not only of chickens and -ducks, but of two muskrats, and, what was rather curious, of two skates -or flatfish. A fox which lived in the big wood lot evidently disliked -our companionship and abandoned his home. Of recent years I have -actually seen but one fox near Sagamore Hill. This was early one -morning, when I had spent the night camping on the wooded shores near -the mouth of Huntington Harbor. The younger children were with me, this -being one of the camping-out trips, in rowboats, on the Sound, taken -especially for their benefit. We had camped the previous evening in a -glade by the edge of a low sea-bluff, far away from any house; and while -the children were intently watching me as I fried strips of beefsteak -and thin slices of potatoes in bacon fat, we heard a fox barking in the -woods. This gave them a delightfully wild feeling, and with refreshing -confidence they discussed the likelihood of seeing it next morning; and -to my astonishment see it we did, on the shore, soon after we started to -row home. - -[Illustration: - - THE GUINEA PIGS -] - -One pleasant fall morning in 1892 I was writing in the gun-room, on the -top floor of the house, from the windows of which one can see far over -the Sound. Suddenly my small boy of five bustled up in great excitement -to tell me that the hired-man had come back from the wood-pile pond—a -muddy pool in a beech and hickory grove a few hundred yards from the -house—to say that he had seen a coon and that I should come down at once -with my rifle; for Davis, the colored gardener, had been complaining -much about the loss of his chickens and did not know whether the -malefactor was a coon or a mink. Accordingly, I picked up a rifle and -trotted down to the pond holding it in one hand, while the little boy -trotted after me, affectionately clasping the butt. Sure enough, in a -big blasted chestnut close to the pond was the coon, asleep in a shallow -hollow of the trunk, some forty feet from the ground. It was a very -exposed place for a coon to lie during the day-time, but this was a bold -fellow and seemed entirely undisturbed by our voices. He was altogether -too near the house, or rather the chicken-coops, to be permitted to stay -where he was—especially as but a short time before I had, with mistaken -soft-heartedness, spared a possum I found on the place—and accordingly I -raised my rifle; then I remembered for the first time that the rear -sight was off, as I had taken it out for some reason; and in consequence -I underwent the humiliation of firing two or three shots in vain before -I got the coon. As he fell out of the tree the little boy pounced -gleefully on him; fortunately he was dead, and we walked back to the -house in triumph, each holding a hind leg of the quarry. - -The possum spoken of above was found in a dogwood tree not more than -eighty yards from the house, one afternoon when we were returning from a -walk in the woods. As something had been killing the hens, I felt that -it was at least under suspicion and that I ought to kill it, but a -possum is such an absurd creature that I could not resist playing with -it for some time; after that I felt that to kill it in cold-blood would -be too much like murder, and let it go. This tender-heartedness was -regarded as much misplaced both by farmer and gardener; hence the coon -suffered. - -A couple of years later, on a clear, cold Thanksgiving Day, we had -walked off some five miles to chop out a bridle-path which had become -choked with down-timber; the two elder of our little boys were with us. -The sun had set long ere our return; we were walking home on a road -through our own woods and were near the house. We had with us a stanch -friend, a large yellow dog, which one of the children, with fine -disregard for considerations of sex, had named Susan. Suddenly Susan -gave tongue off in the woods to one side and we found he had treed a -possum. This time I was hardhearted and the possum fell a victim; the -five-year-old boy explaining to the seven-year-old that “it was the -first time he had ever seen a fellow killed.” - -Susan was one of many dogs whose lives were a joy and whose deaths were -a real grief to the family; among them and their successors are or have -been Sailor Boy, the Chesapeake Bay dog, who not only loves guns, but -also fireworks and rockets, and who exercises a close and delighted -supervision over every detail of each Fourth of July celebration; Alan -and Jessie, the Scotch terriers; and Jack, the most loved of all, a -black smooth-haired Manchester terrier. Jack lived in the house; the -others outside, ever on the lookout to join the family in rambles -through the woods. Jack was human in his intelligence and affection; he -learned all kinds of tricks, was a high-bred gentleman, never brawled, -and was a dauntless fighter. Besides the family, his especial friend, -playfellow, and teacher was colored Charles, the footman at Washington. -Skip, the little black-and-tan terrier that I brought back from the -Colorado bear hunt, changed at once into a real little-boy’s dog. He -never lets his small master out of his sight, and rides on every horse -that will let him—by preference on Algonquin the sheltie, whose nerves -are of iron. - -[Illustration: - - FAMILY FRIENDS -] - -The first night possum hunt in which I ever took part was at Quantico, -on the Virginia side of the Potomac, some twenty miles below Washington. -It was a number of years ago, and several of us were guests of a loved -friend, Hallett Phillips, since dead. Although no hunter, Phillips was -devoted to outdoor life. I think it was at this time that Rudyard -Kipling had sent him the manuscript of “The Feet of the Young Men,” -which he read aloud to us. - -Quantico is an island, a quaint, delightful place, with a club-house. We -started immediately after dark, going across to the mainland, -accompanied by a dozen hounds, with three or four negroes to manage them -and serve as axemen. Each member of the party carried a torch, as -without one it was impossible to go at any speed through the woods. The -dogs, of course, have to be specially trained not to follow either fox -or rabbit. It was dawn before we got back, wet, muddy, and weary, -carrying eleven possums. All night long we rambled through the woods and -across the fields, the dogs working about us as we followed in single -file. After a while some dog would strike a trail. It might take some -time to puzzle it out; then the whole pack would be away, and all the -men ran helter-skelter after them, plunging over logs and through -swamps, and now and then taking headers in the darkness. We were never -fortunate enough to strike a coon, which would have given a good run and -a fight at the end of it. When the unfortunate possum was overtaken on -the ground he was killed before we got up. Otherwise he was popped alive -into one of the big bags carried by the axemen. Two or three times he -got into a hollow log or hole and we dug or chopped him out. Generally, -however, he went up a tree. It was a picturesque sight, in the -flickering glare of the torches, to see the dogs leaping up around the -trunk of a tree and finally to make out the possum clinging to the trunk -or perched on some slender branch, his eyes shining brightly through the -darkness; or to watch the muscular grace with which the darky axemen, -ragged and sinewy, chopped into any tree if it had too large and smooth -a trunk to climb. A possum is a queer, sluggish creature, whose brain -seems to work more like that of some reptile than like a mammal’s. When -one is found in a tree there is no difficulty whatever in picking it off -with the naked hand. Two or three times during the night I climbed the -tree myself, either going from branch to branch or swarming up some -tangle of grape-vines. The possum opened his mouth as I approached and -looked as menacing as he knew how; but if I pulled him by the tail he -forgot everything except trying to grab with all four feet, and then I -could take him by the back of the neck and lift him off—either carrying -him down, held gingerly at arm’s length, or dropping him into the open -mouth of a bag if I felt sufficiently sure of my aim. - -In the spring of 1903, while in western Kansas, a little girl gave me a -baby badger, captured by her brother, and named after him, Josiah. I -took Josiah home to Sagamore Hill, where the children received him -literally with open arms, while even the dogs finally came to tolerate -him. He grew apace, and was a quaint and on the whole a friendly—though -occasionally short-tempered—pet. He played tag with us with -inexhaustible energy, looking much like a small mattress with a leg at -each corner; he dug holes with marvellous rapidity; and when he grew -snappish we lifted him up by the back of the neck, which rendered him -harmless. He ate bread and milk, dead mice and birds, and eggs; he would -take a hen’s egg in his mouth, break it, and avoid spilling any of the -contents. When angered, he hissed, and at other times he made low -guttural sounds. The nine-year-old boy became his especial friend. Now -and then he nipped the little boy’s legs, but this never seemed to -interrupt the amicable relations between the two; as the little boy -normally wore neither shoes nor stockings, and his blue overalls were -thin, Josiah probably found the temptation at times irresistible. If on -such occasions the boy was in Josiah’s wire-fenced enclosure, he sat on -a box with his legs tucked under him; if the play was taking place -outside, he usually climbed into the hammock, while Josiah pranced and -capered clumsily beneath, tail up and head thrown back. But Josiah never -bit when picked up; although he hissed like a teakettle as the little -boy carried him about, usually tightly clasped round where his waist -would have been if he had had one. - -At different times I have been given a fairly appalling number of -animals, from known and unknown friends; in one year the list -included—besides a lion, a hyena, and a zebra from the Emperor of -Ethiopia—five bears, a wildcat, a coyote, two macaws, an eagle, a barn -owl, and several snakes and lizards. Most of these went to the Zoo, but -a few were kept by the children. Those thus kept numbered at one end of -the scale gentle, trustful, pretty things, like kangaroo rats and flying -squirrels; and at the other end a queer-tempered young black bear, which -the children named Jonathan Edwards, partly because of certain -well-marked Calvinistic tendencies in his disposition, partly out of -compliment to their mother, whose ancestors included that Puritan -divine. The kangaroo rats and flying squirrels slept in their pockets -and blouses, went to school with them, and sometimes unexpectedly -appeared at breakfast or dinner. The bear added zest to life in more -ways than one. When we took him to walk, it was always with a chain and -club; and when at last he went to the Zoo, the entire household breathed -a sigh of relief, although I think the dogs missed him, as he had -occasionally yielded them the pleasure of the chase in its strongest -form. - -[Illustration: - - JOSIAH -] - -As a steady thing, the children found rabbits and guinea pigs the most -satisfactory pets. The guinea pigs usually rejoiced in the names of the -local or national celebrities of the moment; at one time there were -five, which were named after naval heroes and friendly ecclesiastical -dignitaries—an Episcopalian Bishop, a Catholic Priest, and my own Dutch -Reformed Pastor—Bishop Doane, Father O’Grady, Dr. Johnson, Fighting Bob -Evans, and Admiral Dewey. Father O’Grady, by the way, proved to be of -the softer sex; a fact definitely established when two of his joint -owners, rushing breathless into the room, announced to a mixed company, -“Oh, oh, Father O’Grady has had some children!” - -Of course there are no pets like horses; and horsemanship is a test of -prowess. The best among vigorous out-of-door sports should be more than -pastimes. Play is good for play’s sake, within moderate limits, -especially if it is athletic play; and, again within moderate limits, it -is good because a healthy body helps toward healthiness of mind. But if -play serves only either of these ends, it does not deserve the serious -consideration which rightly attaches to play which in itself fits a man -to do things worth doing; and there exists no creature much more -contemptible than a man past his first youth who leads a life devoted to -mere sport, without thought of the serious work of life. In a free -Government the average citizen should be able to do his duty in war as -well as in peace; otherwise he falls short. Cavalrymen and infantrymen, -who do not need special technical knowledge, are easily developed out of -men who are already soldiers in the rough, that is, who, in addition to -the essential qualities of manliness and character, the qualities of -resolution, daring and intelligence, which go to make up the “fighting -edge,” also possess physical hardihood; who can live in the open, walk -long distances, ride, shoot, and endure fatigue, hardship, and exposure. -But if all these traits must be painfully acquired, then it takes a long -time indeed before the man can be turned into a good soldier. Now, there -is little tendency to develop these traits in our highly complex, rather -over-civilized, modern industrial life, and therefore the sports which -produce them serve a useful purpose. Hence, when able to afford a horse, -or to practise on a rifle range, one can feel that the enjoyment is -warranted by what may be called considerations of national ethics. - -As with everything else, so with riding; some take to it naturally, -others never can become even fairly good horsemen. All the children -ride, with varying skill. While young, a Shetland pony serves; the -present pony, Algonquin, a calico or pinto, being as knowing and -friendly as possible. His first small owner simply adored him, treating -him as a twin brother, and having implicit faith in his mental powers. -On one occasion, when a naval officer of whom the children were fond -came to call, in full dress, Algonquin’s master, who was much impressed -by the sight, led up Algonquin to enjoy it too, and was shocked by the -entire indifference with which the greedy pony persisted in eating -grass. One favorite polo pony, old Diamond, long after he became a -pensioner served for whichever child had just graduated from the -sheltie. Next in order was a little mare named Yagenka, after the -heroine of one of Sienkewicz’s blood-curdling romances of mediæval -Poland. When every rideable animal is impressed, all the children -sometimes go out with their mother and me; looking much like the -Cumberbatch family in Caldecott’s pictures. - -[Illustration: - - BLEISTEIN JUMPING - - From a photograph, copyright, 1902, by Clinedinst, Washington, D. C. -] - -Of recent years I have not been able to ride to hounds; but when -opportunity has offered I have kept as saddle horses one or two hunters, -so that instead of riding the road I could strike off across country; -the hunter scrambling handily through rough places, and jumping an -occasional fence if necessary. While in Washington this is often, except -for an occasional long walk down Rock Creek or along the Virginia side -of the Potomac, the only exercise I can get. Among the various horses I -have owned in recent years Bleistein was the one I liked best, because -of his good nature and courage. He was a fair, although in no way a -remarkable, jumper. One day, May 3, 1902, I took him out to Chevy Chase -and had him photographed while jumping various fences and brush hurdles; -the accompanying picture is from one of these photos. Another hunter, -Renown, was a much higher, but an uncertain, jumper. He was a beautiful -horse, and very good-tempered, but excessively timid. - -We have been able to fix a rifle range at Sagamore, though only up to -200 yards. Some of the children take to shooting naturally, others can -only with difficulty be made to learn the rudiments of what they regard -as a tiresome business. Many friends have shot on this range. We use -only sporting rifles; my own is one of the new model Government -Springfields, stocked and sighted to suit myself. For American game the -modern small calibre, high power, smokeless-powder rifle, of any one -among several makes, is superseding the others; although for some -purposes an old 45–70 or 45–90, even with black powder, is as good as -any modern weapon, and for very heavy game the calibre should be larger -than that of the typical modern arm, with a heavier ball and more -powder. But after all, any good modern rifle is good enough; when a -certain pitch of excellence in the weapon has been attained, then the -determining factor in achieving success is the quality of the man behind -the gun. - -My eldest boy killed his first buck just before he was fourteen, and his -first moose—a big bull with horns which spread 56 inches—just before he -was seventeen. Both were killed in the wilderness, in the great north -woods, on trips sufficiently hard to afford some test of endurance and -skill. Such a hunting trip is even more than a delightful holiday, -provided the work is hard as well as enjoyable; and therefore it must be -taken in the wilderness. Big private preserves may serve a useful -purpose if managed with such judgment and kindliness that the good will -of the neighborhood is secured; but the sport in them somehow seems to -have lost its savor, even though they may be large enough to give the -chance of testing a man’s woodcraft no less than his marksmanship. I -have but once hunted in one of them. That was in the fall of 1902, when -Senator Proctor took me into the Corbin Park game preserve in New -Hampshire. The Senator is not merely a good shot; he is a good hunter, -with the eye, the knowledge of the game, and the ability to take -advantage of cover and walk silently, which are even more important than -straight powder. He took me out alone for the afternoon, and, besides -the tame buffalo, he showed me one elk and over twenty deer. We were -only after the wild boar, which have flourished wonderfully. Just at -dusk we saw a three-year-old boar making his way toward an old deserted -orchard; and creeping up, I shot him as he munched apples under one of -the trees. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - IN THE LOUISIANA CANEBRAKES - - -In October, 1907, I spent a fortnight in the canebrakes of northern -Louisiana, my hosts being Messrs. John M. Parker and John A. McIlhenny. -Surgeon-General Rixey, of the United States Navy, and Dr. Alexander -Lambert were with me. I was especially anxious to kill a bear in these -canebrakes after the fashion of the old Southern planters, who for a -century past have followed the bear with horse, hound and horn in -Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. - -Our first camp was on Tensas Bayou. This is in the heart of the great -alluvial bottom-land created during the countless ages through which the -mighty Mississippi has poured out of the heart of the continent. It is -in the black belt of the South, in which the negroes outnumber the -whites four or five to one, the disproportion in the region in which I -was actually hunting being far greater. There is no richer soil in all -the earth; and when, as will soon be the case, the chances of disaster -from flood are over, I believe the whole land will be cultivated and -densely peopled. At present the possibility of such flood is a terrible -deterrent to settlement, for when the Father of Waters breaks his -boundaries he turns the country for a breadth of eighty miles into one -broad river, the plantations throughout all this vast extent being from -five to twenty feet under water. Cotton is the staple industry, corn -also being grown, while there are a few rice fields and occasional small -patches of sugar cane. The plantations are for the most part of large -size and tilled by negro tenants for the white owners. Conditions are -still in some respects like those of the pioneer days. The magnificent -forest growth which covers the land is of little value because of the -difficulty in getting the trees to market, and the land is actually -worth more after the timber has been removed than before. In -consequence, the larger trees are often killed by girdling, where the -work of felling them would entail disproportionate cost and labor. At -dusk, with the sunset glimmering in the west, or in the brilliant -moonlight when the moon is full, the cotton fields have a strange -spectral look, with the dead trees raising aloft their naked branches. -The cotton fields themselves, when the bolls burst open, seem almost as -if whitened by snow; and the red and white flowers, interspersed among -the burst-open pods, make the whole field beautiful. The rambling -one-story houses, surrounded by outbuildings, have a picturesqueness all -their own; their very looks betoken the lavish, whole-hearted, generous -hospitality of the planters who dwell therein. - -Beyond the end of cultivation towers the great forest. Wherever the -water stands in pools, and by the edges of the lakes and bayous, the -giant cypress looms aloft, rivalled in size by some of the red gums and -white oaks. In stature, in towering majesty, they are unsurpassed by any -trees of our eastern forests; lordlier kings of the green-leaved world -are not to be found until we reach the sequoias and redwoods of the -Sierras. Among them grow many other trees—hackberry, thorn, honey -locust, tupelo, pecan and ash. In the cypress sloughs the singular knees -of the trees stand two or three feet above the black ooze. Palmettos -grow thickly in places. The canebrakes stretch along the slight rises of -ground, often extending for miles, forming one of the most striking and -interesting features of the country. They choke out other growth, the -feathery, graceful canes standing tall, slender, serried, each but a few -inches from his brother, and springing to a height of fifteen or twenty -feet. They look like bamboos; they are well-nigh impenetrable for a man -on horseback; even on foot they make difficult walking unless free use -is made of the heavy bushknife. It is impossible to see through them for -more than fifteen or twenty paces, and often for not half that distance. -Bears make their lairs in them, and they are the refuge for hunted -things. Outside of them, in the swamp, bushes of many kinds grow thick -among the tall trees, and vines and creepers climb the trunks and hang -in trailing festoons from the branches. Here likewise the bushknife is -in constant play, as the skilled horsemen thread their way, often at a -gallop, in and out among the great tree trunks, and through the dense, -tangled, thorny undergrowth. - -In the lakes and larger bayous we saw alligators and garfish; and -monstrous snapping turtles, fearsome brutes of the slime, as heavy as a -man, and with huge horny beaks that with a single snap could take off a -man’s hand or foot. One of the planters with us had lost part of his -hand by the bite of an alligator; and had seen a companion seized by the -foot by a huge garfish from which he was rescued with the utmost -difficulty by his fellow-swimmers. There were black bass in the waters -too, and they gave us many a good meal. Thick-bodied water moccasins, -foul and dangerous, kept near the water; and farther back in the swamp -we found and killed rattlesnakes and copperheads. - -Coon and possum were very plentiful, and in the streams there were minks -and a few otters. Black squirrels barked in the tops of the tall trees -or descended to the ground to gather nuts or gnaw the shed deer -antlers—the latter a habit they shared with the wood rats. To me the -most interesting of the smaller mammals, however, were the swamp -rabbits, which are thoroughly amphibious in their habits, not only -swimming but diving, and taking to the water almost as freely as if they -were muskrats. They lived in the depths of the woods and beside the -lonely bayous. - -Birds were plentiful. Mocking-birds abounded in the clearings, where, -among many sparrows of more common kind, I saw the painted finch, the -gaudily colored brother of our little indigo bunting, though at this -season his plumage was faded and dim. In the thick woods where we hunted -there were many cardinal birds and Carolina wrens, both in full song. -Thrashers were even more common; but so cautious that it was rather -difficult to see them, in spite of their incessant clucking and calling -and their occasional bursts of song. There were crowds of warblers and -vireos of many different kinds, evidently migrants from the north, and -generally silent. The most characteristic birds, however, were the -woodpeckers, of which there were seven or eight species, the commonest -around our camp being the handsome red-bellied, the brother of the -red-head which we saw in the clearings. The most notable birds and those -which most interested me were the great ivory-billed woodpeckers. Of -these I saw three, all of them in groves of giant cypress; their -brilliant white bills contrasted finely with the black of their general -plumage. They were noisy but wary, and they seemed to me to set off the -wildness of the swamp as much as any of the beasts of the chase. Among -the birds of prey the commonest were the barred owls, which I have never -elsewhere seen so plentiful. Their hooting and yelling were heard all -around us throughout the night, and once one of them hooted at intervals -for several minutes at midday. One of these owls had caught and was -devouring a snake in the late afternoon, while it was still daylight. In -the dark nights and still mornings and evenings their cries seemed -strange and unearthly, the long hoots varied by screeches, and by all -kinds of uncanny noises. - -At our first camp our tents were pitched by the bayou. For four days the -weather was hot, with steaming rains; after that it grew cool and clear. -Huge biting flies, bigger than bees, attacked our horses; but the insect -plagues, so veritable a scourge in this country during the months of -warm weather, had well-nigh vanished in the first few weeks of the fall. - -The morning after we reached camp we were joined by Ben Lilley, the -hunter, a spare, full-bearded man, with wild, gentle, blue eyes and a -frame of steel and whipcord. I never met any other man so indifferent to -fatigue and hardship. He equalled Cooper’s Deerslayer in woodcraft, in -hardihood, in simplicity—and also in loquacity. The morning he joined us -in camp, he had come on foot through the thick woods, followed by his -two dogs, and had neither eaten nor drunk for twenty-four hours; for he -did not like to drink the swamp water. It had rained hard throughout the -night and he had no shelter, no rubber coat, nothing but the clothes he -was wearing, and the ground was too wet for him to lie on; so he perched -in a crooked tree in the beating rain, much as if he had been a wild -turkey. But he was not in the least tired when he struck camp; and, -though he slept an hour after breakfast, it was chiefly because he had -nothing else to do, inasmuch as it was Sunday, on which day he never -hunted nor labored. He could run through the woods like a buck, was far -more enduring, and quite as indifferent to weather, though he was over -fifty years old. He had trapped and hunted throughout almost all the -half century of his life, and on trail of game he was as sure as his own -hounds. His observations on wild creatures were singularly close and -accurate. He was particularly fond of the chase of the bear, which he -followed by himself, with one or two dogs; often he would be on the -trail of his quarry for days at a time, lying down to sleep wherever -night overtook him, and he had killed over a hundred and twenty bears. - -Late in the evening of the same day we were joined by two gentlemen to -whom we owed the success of our hunt: Messrs. Clive and Harley Metcalf, -planters from Mississippi, men in the prime of life, thorough woodsmen -and hunters, skilled marksmen, and utterly fearless horsemen. For a -quarter of a century they had hunted bear and deer with horse and hound, -and were masters of the art. They brought with them their pack of bear -hounds, only one, however, being a thoroughly staunch and seasoned -veteran. The pack was under the immediate control of a negro hunter, -Holt Collier, in his own way as remarkable a character as Ben Lilley. He -was a man of sixty and could neither read nor write, but he had all the -dignity of an African chief, and for half a century he had been a bear -hunter, having killed or assisted in killing over three thousand bears. -He had been born a slave on the Hinds plantation, his father, an old man -when he was born, having been the body servant and cook of “old General -Hinds,” as he called him, when the latter fought under Jackson at New -Orleans. When ten years old Holt had been taken on the horse behind his -young master, the Hinds of that day, on a bear hunt, when he killed his -first bear. In the Civil War he had not only followed his master to -battle as his body servant, but had acted under him as sharpshooter -against the Union soldiers. After the war he continued to stay with his -master until the latter died, and had then been adopted by the Metcalfs; -and he felt that he had brought them up, and treated them with that -mixture of affection and grumbling respect which an old nurse shows -toward the lad who has ceased being a child. The two Metcalfs and Holt -understood one another thoroughly, and understood their hounds and the -game their hounds followed almost as thoroughly. - -[Illustration: - - THE BEAR HUNTERS - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -They had killed many deer and wildcat, and now and then a panther; but -their favorite game was the black bear, which, until within a very few -years, was extraordinarily plentiful in the swamps and canebrakes on -both sides of the lower Mississippi, and which is still found here and -there, although in greatly diminished numbers. In Louisiana and -Mississippi the bears go into their dens toward the end of January, -usually in hollow trees, often very high up in living trees, but often -also in great logs that lie rotting on the ground. They come forth -toward the end of April, the cubs having been born in the interval. At -this time the bears are nearly as fat, so my informants said, as when -they enter their dens in January; but they lose their fat very rapidly. -On first coming out in the spring they usually eat ash buds and the -tender young cane called mutton cane, and at that season they generally -refuse to eat the acorns even when they are plentiful. According to my -informants it is at this season that they are most apt to take to -killing stock, almost always the hogs which run wild or semi-wild in the -woods. They are very individual in their habits, however; many of them -never touch stock, while others, usually old he-bears, may kill numbers -of hogs; in one case an old he-bear began this hog-killing just as soon -as he left his den. In the summer months they find but little to eat, -and it is at this season that they are most industrious in hunting for -grubs, insects, frogs and small mammals. In some neighborhoods they do -not eat fish, while in other places, perhaps not far away, they not only -greedily eat dead fish, but will themselves kill fish if they can find -them in shallow pools left by the receding waters. As soon as the mast -is on the ground they begin to feed upon it, and when the acorns and -pecans are plentiful they eat nothing else; though at first berries of -all kinds and grapes are eaten also. When in November they have begun -only to eat the acorns they put on fat as no other wild animal does, and -by the end of December a full-grown bear may weigh at least twice as -much as it does in August, the difference being as great as between a -very fat and a lean hog. Old he-bears which in August weigh three -hundred pounds and upward will, toward the end of December, weigh six -hundred pounds, and even more in exceptional cases. - -Bears vary greatly in their habits in different localities, in addition -to the individual variation among those of the same neighborhood. Around -Avery Island, John McIlhenny’s plantation, the bears only appear from -June to November; there they never kill hogs, but feed at first on corn -and then on sugar cane, doing immense damage in the fields, quite as -much as hogs would do. But when we were on the Tensas we visited a -family of settlers who lived right in the midst of the forest ten miles -from any neighbors; and although bears were plentiful around them they -never molested their corn fields—in which the coons, however, did great -damage. - -A big bear is cunning, and is a dangerous fighter to the dogs. It is -only in exceptional cases, however, that these black bears, even when -wounded and at bay, are dangerous to men, in spite of their formidable -strength. Each of the hunters with whom I was camped had been charged by -one or two among the scores or hundreds of bears he had slain, but no -one of them had ever been injured, although they knew other men who had -been injured. Their immunity was due to their own skill and coolness; -for when the dogs were around the bear the hunter invariably ran close -in so as to kill the bear at once and save the pack. Each of the -Metcalfs had on one occasion killed a large bear with a knife, when the -hounds had seized it and the men dared not fire for fear of shooting one -of them. They had in their younger days hunted with a General Hamberlin, -a Mississippi planter whom they well knew, who was then already an old -man. He was passionately addicted to the chase of the bear, not only -because of the sport it afforded, but also in a certain way as a matter -of vengeance; for his father, also a keen bear-hunter, had been killed -by a bear. It was an old he, which he had wounded and which had been -bayed by the dogs; it attacked him, throwing him down and biting him so -severely that he died a couple of days later. This was in 1847. Mr. W. -H. Lambeth sends the following account of the fatal encounter: - -“I send you an extract from the _Brother Jonathan_, published in New -York in 1847: - - “‘Dr. Monroe Hamberlin, Robert Wilson, Joe Brazeil, and others left - Satartia, Miss., and in going up Big Sunflower River, met Mr. Leiser - and his party of hunters returning to Vicksburg. Mr. Leiser told Dr. - Hamberlin that he saw the largest bear track at the big Mound on - Lake George that he ever saw, and was afraid to tackle him. Dr. - Hamberlin said, “I never saw one that I was afraid to tackle.” Dr. - Hamberlin landed his skiff at the Mound and his dogs soon bayed the - bear. Dr. Hamberlin fired and the ball glanced on the bear’s head. - The bear caught him by the right thigh and tore all the flesh off. - He drew his knife and the bear crushed his right arm. He cheered the - dogs and they pulled the bear off. The bear whipped the dogs and - attacked him the third time, biting him in the hollow back of his - neck. Mr. Wilson came up and shot the bear dead on Dr. Hamberlin. - The party returned to Satartia, but Dr. Hamberlin told them to put - the bear in the skiff, that he would not leave without his - antagonist. The bear weighed 640 pounds.’ - - “Dr. Hamberlin lived three days. I knew all the parties. His son - John and myself hunted with them in 1843 and 1844, when we were too - small to carry a gun.” - -A large bear is not afraid of dogs, and an old he, or a she with cubs, -is always on the lookout for a chance to catch and kill any dog that -comes near enough. While lean and in good running condition it is not an -easy matter to bring a bear to bay; but as they grow fat they become -steadily less able to run, and the young ones, and even occasionally a -full-grown she, will then readily tree. If a man is not near by, a big -bear that has become tired will treat the pack with whimsical -indifference. The Metcalfs recounted to me how they had once seen a -bear, which had been chased quite a time, evidently make up its mind -that it needed a rest and could afford to take it without much regard -for the hounds. The bear accordingly selected a small opening and lay -flat on its back with its nose and all its four legs extended. The dogs -surrounded it in frantic excitement, barking and baying, and gradually -coming in a ring very close up. The bear was watching, however, and -suddenly sat up with a jerk, frightening the dogs nearly into fits. Half -of them turned back somersaults in their panic, and all promptly gave -the bear ample room. The bear having looked about, lay flat on its back -again, and the pack gradually regaining courage once more closed in. At -first the bear, which was evidently reluctant to arise, kept them at a -distance by now and then thrusting an unexpected paw toward them; and -when they became too bold it sat up with a jump and once more put them -all to flight. - -For several days we hunted perseveringly around this camp on the Tensas -Bayou, but without success. Deer abounded, but we could find no bears; -and of the deer we killed only what we actually needed for use in camp. -I killed one myself by a good shot, in which, however, I fear that the -element of luck played a considerable part. We had started as usual by -sunrise, to be gone all day; for we never counted upon returning to camp -before sunset. For an hour or two we threaded our way, first along an -indistinct trail, and then on an old disused road, the hardy -woods-horses keeping on a running walk without much regard to the -difficulties of the ground. The disused road lay right across a great -canebrake, and while some of the party went around the cane with the -dogs, the rest of us strung out along the road so as to get a shot at -any bear that might come across it. I was following Harley Metcalf, with -John McIlhenny and Dr. Rixey behind on the way to their posts, when we -heard in the far-off distance two of the younger hounds, evidently on -the trail of a deer. Almost immediately afterward a crash in the bushes -at our right hand and behind us made me turn around, and I saw a deer -running across the few feet of open space; and as I leaped from my horse -it disappeared in the cane. I am a rather deliberate shot, and under any -circumstances a rifle is not the best weapon for snap shooting, while -there is no kind of shooting more difficult than on running game in a -canebrake. Luck favored me in this instance, however, for there was a -spot a little ahead of where the deer entered in which the cane was -thinner, and I kept my rifle on its indistinct, shadowy outline until it -reached this spot; it then ran quartering away from me, which made my -shot much easier, although I could only catch its general outline -through the cane. But the 45–70 which I was using is a powerful gun and -shoots right through cane or bushes; and as soon as I pulled trigger the -deer, with a bleat, turned a tremendous somersault and was dead when we -reached it. I was not a little pleased that my bullet should have sped -so true when I was making my first shot in company with my hard-riding, -straight-shooting planter friends. - -But no bears were to be found. We waited long hours on likely stands. We -rode around the canebrakes through the swampy jungle, or threaded our -way across them on trails cut by the heavy wood-knives of my companions; -but we found nothing. Until the trails were cut the canebrakes were -impenetrable to a horse and were difficult enough to a man on foot. On -going through them it seemed as if we must be in the tropics; the -silence, the stillness, the heat, and the obscurity, all combining to -give a certain eeriness to the task, as we chopped our winding way -slowly through the dense mass of close-growing, feather-fronded stalks. -Each of the hunters prided himself on his skill with the horn, which was -an essential adjunct of the hunt, used both to summon and control the -hounds, and for signalling among the hunters themselves. The tones of -many of the horns were full and musical; and it was pleasant to hear -them as they wailed to one another, backward and forward, across the -great stretches of lonely swamp and forest. - -A few days convinced us that it was a waste of time to stay longer where -we were. Accordingly, early one morning we hunters started for a new -camp fifteen or twenty miles to the southward, on Bear Lake. We took the -hounds with us, and each man carried what he chose or could in his -saddle-pockets, while his slicker was on his horse’s back behind him. -Otherwise we took absolutely nothing in the way of supplies, and the -negroes with the tents and camp equipage were three days before they -overtook us. On our way down we were joined by Major Amacker and Dr. -Miller, with a small pack of cat hounds. These were good deer dogs, and -they ran down and killed on the ground a good-sized bobcat—a wildcat, as -it is called in the South. It was a male and weighed twenty-three and a -half pounds. It had just killed and eaten a large rabbit. The stomachs -of the deer we killed, by the way, contained acorns and leaves. - -Our new camp was beautifully situated on the bold, steep bank of Bear -Lake—a tranquil stretch of water, part of an old river bed, a couple of -hundred yards broad with a winding length of several miles. Giant -cypress grew at the edge of the water; the singular cypress knees rising -in every direction round about, while at the bottoms of the trunks -themselves were often cavernous hollows opening beneath the surface of -water, some of them serving as dens for alligators. There was a waxing -moon, so that the nights were as beautiful as the days. - -From our new camp we hunted as steadily as from the old. We saw bear -sign, but not much of it, and only one or two fresh tracks. One day the -hounds jumped a bear, probably a yearling from the way it ran; for at -this season a yearling or a two-year-old will run almost like a deer, -keeping to the thick cane as long as it can and then bolting across -through the bushes of the ordinary swamp land until it can reach another -canebrake. After a three hours’ run this particular animal managed to -get clear away without one of the hunters ever seeing it, and it ran -until all the dogs were tired out. A day or two afterward one of the -other members of the party shot a small yearling—that is, a bear which -would have been two years old in the following February. It was very -lean, weighing but fifty-five pounds. The finely chewed acorns in its -stomach showed that it was already beginning to find mast. - -We had seen the tracks of an old she in the neighborhood, and the next -morning we started to hunt her out. I went with Clive Metcalf. We had -been joined overnight by Mr. Ichabod Osborn and his son Tom, two -Louisiana planters, with six or eight hounds—or rather bear dogs, for in -these packs most of the animals are of mixed blood, and, as with all -packs that are used in the genuine hunting of the wilderness, pedigree -counts for nothing as compared with steadiness, courage and -intelligence. There were only two of the new dogs that were really -staunch bear dogs. The father of Ichabod Osborn had taken up the -plantation upon which they were living in 1811, only a few years after -Louisiana became part of the United States, and young Osborn was now the -third in line from father to son who had steadily hunted bears in this -immediate neighborhood. - -On reaching the cypress slough near which the tracks of the old she had -been seen the day before, Clive Metcalf and I separated from the others -and rode off at a lively pace between two of the canebrakes. After an -hour or two’s wait we heard, very far off, the notes of one of the -loudest-mouthed hounds, and instantly rode toward it, until we could -make out the babel of the pack. Some hard galloping brought us opposite -the point toward which they were heading,—for experienced hunters can -often tell the probable line of a bear’s flight, and the spots at which -it will break cover. But on this occasion the bear shied off from -leaving the thick cane and doubled back; and soon the hounds were once -more out of hearing, while we galloped desperately around the edge of -the cane. The tough woods-horses kept their feet like cats as they -leaped logs, plunged through bushes, and dodged in and out among the -tree trunks; and we had all we could do to prevent the vines from -lifting us out of the saddle, while the thorns tore our hands and faces. -Hither and thither we went, now at a trot, now at a run, now stopping to -listen for the pack. Occasionally we could hear the hounds, and then off -we would go racing through the forest toward the point toward which we -thought they were heading. Finally, after a couple of hours of this, we -came up on one side of a canebrake on the other side of which we could -hear, not only the pack, but the yelling and cheering of Harley Metcalf -and Tom Osborn and one or two of the negro hunters, all of whom were -trying to keep the dogs up to their work in the thick cane. Again we -rode ahead, and now in a few minutes were rewarded by hearing the -leading dogs come to bay in the thickest of the cover. Having galloped -as near to the spot as we could we threw ourselves off the horses and -plunged into the cane, trying to cause as little disturbance as -possible, but of course utterly unable to avoid making some noise. -Before we were within gunshot, however, we could tell by the sounds that -the bear had once again started, making what is called a “walking bay.” -Clive Metcalf, a finished bear-hunter, was speedily able to determine -what the bear’s probable course would be, and we stole through the cane -until we came to a spot near which he thought the quarry would pass. -Then we crouched down, I with my rifle at the ready. Nor did we have -long to wait. Peering through the thick-growing stalks I suddenly made -out the dim outline of the bear coming straight toward us; and -noiselessly I cocked and half-raised my rifle, waiting for a clearer -chance. In a few seconds it came; the bear turned almost broadside to -me, and walked forward very stiff-legged, almost as if on tiptoe, now -and then looking back at the nearest dogs. These were two in -number—Rowdy, a very deep-voiced hound, in the lead, and Queen, a -shrill-tongued brindled bitch, a little behind. Once or twice the bear -paused as she looked back at them, evidently hoping that they would come -so near that by a sudden race she could catch one of them. But they were -too wary. - -[Illustration: - - LISTENING FOR THE PACK - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -All of this took but a few moments, and as I saw the bear quite -distinctly some twenty yards off, I fired for behind the shoulder. -Although I could see her outline, yet the cane was so thick that my -sight was on it and not on the bear itself. But I knew my bullet would -go true; and sure enough, at the crack of the rifle the bear stumbled -and fell forward, the bullet having passed through both lungs and out at -the opposite side. Immediately the dogs came running forward at full -speed, and we raced forward likewise lest the pack should receive -damage. The bear had but a minute or two to live, yet even in that time -more than one valuable hound might lose its life; when within half a -dozen steps of the black, angered beast, I fired again, breaking the -spine at the root of the neck; and down went the bear stark dead, slain -in the canebrake in true hunter fashion. One by one the hounds struggled -up and fell on their dead quarry, the noise of the worry filling the -air. Then we dragged the bear out to the edge of the cane, and my -companion wound his horn to summon the other hunters. - -This was a big she-bear, very lean, and weighing two hundred and two -pounds. In her stomach were palmetto berries, beetles and a little -mutton cane, but chiefly acorns chewed up in a fine brown mass. - -John McIlhenny had killed a she-bear about the size of this on his -plantation at Avery’s Island the previous June. Several bears had been -raiding his corn fields and one evening he determined to try to waylay -them. After dinner he left the ladies of his party on the gallery of his -house while he rode down in a hollow and concealed himself on the lower -side of the corn field. Before he had waited ten minutes a she-bear and -her cub came into the field. Then she rose on her hind legs, tearing -down an armful of ears of corn which she seemingly gave to the cub, and -then rose for another armful. McIlhenny shot her; tried in vain to catch -the cub; and rejoined the party on the veranda, having been absent but -one hour. - -After the death of my bear I had only a couple of days left. We spent -them a long distance from camp, having to cross two bayous before we got -to the hunting grounds. I missed a shot at a deer, seeing little more -than the flicker of its white tail through the dense bushes; and the -pack caught and killed a very lean two-year-old bear weighing eighty -pounds. Near a beautiful pond called Panther Lake we found a deer-lick, -the ground not merely bare but furrowed into hollows by the tongues of -the countless generations of deer that had frequented the place. We also -passed a huge mound, the only hillock in the entire district; it was the -work of man, for it had been built in the unknown past by those unknown -people whom we call moundbuilders. On the trip, all told, we killed and -brought into camp three bears, six deer, a wildcat, a turkey, a possum, -and a dozen squirrels; and we ate everything except the wildcat. - -In the evenings we sat around the blazing camp-fires, and, as always on -such occasions, each hunter told tales of his adventures and of the -strange feats and habits of the beasts of the wilderness. There had been -beaver all through this delta in the old days, and a very few are still -left in out-of-the-way places. One Sunday morning we saw two wolves, I -think young of the year, appear for a moment on the opposite side of the -bayou, but they vanished before we could shoot. All of our party had had -a good deal of experience with wolves. The Metcalfs had had many sheep -killed by them, the method of killing being invariably by a single bite -which tore open the throat while the wolf ran beside his victim. The -wolves also killed young hogs, but were very cautious about meddling -with an old sow; while one of the big half-wild boars that ranged free -through the woods had no fear of any number of wolves. Their endurance -and the extremely difficult nature of the country made it difficult to -hunt them, and the hunters all bore them a grudge, because if a hound -got lost in a region where wolves were at all plentiful they were almost -sure to find and kill him before he got home. They were fond of preying -on dogs, and at times would boldly kill the hounds right ahead of the -hunters. In one instance, while the dogs were following a bear and were -but a couple of hundred yards in front of the horsemen, a small party of -wolves got in on them and killed two. One of the Osborns, having a -valuable hound which was addicted to wandering in the woods, saved him -from the wolves by putting a bell on him. The wolves evidently suspected -a trap and would never go near the dog. On one occasion another of his -hounds got loose with a chain on, and they found him a day or two -afterward unharmed, his chain having become entangled in the branches of -a bush. One or two wolves had evidently walked around and around the -imprisoned dog, but the chain had awakened their suspicions and they had -not pounced on him. They had killed a yearling heifer a short time -before, on Osborn’s plantation, biting her in the hams. It has been my -experience that fox-hounds as a rule are afraid of attacking a wolf; but -all of my friends assured me that their dogs, if a sufficient number of -them were together, would tackle a wolf without hesitation; the packs, -however, were always composed, to the extent of at least half, of dogs -which, though part hound, were part shepherd or bull or some other -breed. Dr. Miller had hunted in Arkansas with a pack specially trained -after the wolf. There were twenty-eight of them all told, and on this -hunt they ran down and killed unassisted four full-grown wolves, -although some of the hounds were badly cut. None of my companions had -ever known of wolves actually molesting men, but Mr. Ichabod Osborn’s -son-in-law had a queer adventure with wolves while riding alone through -the woods one late afternoon. His horse acting nervously, he looked -about and saw that five wolves were coming toward him. One was a bitch, -the other four were males. They seemed to pay little heed to him, and he -shot one of the males, which crawled off. The next minute the bitch ran -straight toward him and was almost at his stirrup when he killed her. -The other three wolves, instead of running away, jumped to and fro -growling, with their hair bristling, and he killed two of them; -whereupon the survivor at last made off. He brought the scalps of the -three dead wolves home with him. - -Near our first camp was the carcass of a deer, a yearling buck, which -had been killed by a cougar. When first found, the wounds on the carcass -showed that the deer had been killed by a bite in the neck at the back -of the head; but there were scratches on the rump as if the panther had -landed on its back. One of the negro hunters, Brutus Jackson, evidently -a trustworthy man, told me that he had twice seen cougars, each time -under unexpected conditions. Once he saw a bobcat race up a tree, and -riding toward it saw a panther reared up against the trunk. The panther -looked around at him quite calmly, and then retired in leisurely -fashion. Jackson went off to get some hounds, and when he returned two -hours afterward the bobcat was still up the tree, evidently so badly -scared that he did not wish to come down. The hounds were unable to -follow the cougar. On another occasion he heard a tremendous scuffle and -immediately afterward saw a big doe racing along with a small cougar -literally riding it. The cougar was biting the neck, but low down near -the shoulders; he was hanging on with his front paws, but was tearing -away with his hind claws so that the deer’s hair appeared to fill the -air. As soon as Jackson appeared the panther left the deer. He shot it, -and the doe galloped off, apparently without serious injury. - -I wish those who see cougars kill game, or who come on game that they -have killed, would study and record the exact method employed in -killing. Mr. Hornaday sent me a photograph of a cougar killing a goat, -which he had seized high up on the back of the neck in his jaws, not -using his claws at all. I once found where one had killed a big buck by -seizing him by the throat; the claws also having evidently been used to -hold the buck in the struggle. Another time I found a colt which had -been killed by a bite in the neck; and yet another time a young doe -which had been killed by a bite in the head. In most cases where I came -across the carcasses of deer which had been killed by cougars they had -been partially eaten, and it was not possible to find out exactly how -they had been slain. In one instance at least the neck had been broken, -evidently in the struggle; but I could not tell whether this had been -done designedly, by the use of the forepaws. Twice hunters I have known -saw cougars seize mountain sheep, in each case by the throat. The -information furnished me inclines me to believe that most game is killed -by cougars in this fashion. Most of the carcasses of elk which had been -killed by cougars that I have examined showed fang marks round the -throat and neck; but one certainly did not, though it is possible in -this case that the elk died in some other way, and that the cougar had -merely been feeding on its dead body. But I have read of cases in which -elk and large deer were slain where the carcasses were said to have -shown wounds only on the flanks, and where the writers believed—with how -much justification I cannot say—that the wounds had been inflicted by -the claws. I should be surprised to find that such was the ordinary -method with cougars of killing game of any kind; but it is perhaps -unsafe to deny the possibility of such an occurrence without more -information than is at present available; especially in view of the -experience of Brutus Jackson, which I give above. In a letter to Mr. -Hornaday a New Mexican hunter, Mr. J. W. Carter, of Truchas, states that -cougars rip with their claws in killing game, and that, whether the -quarry is a horse, deer, or calf, the cougar begins to eat at the neck. -When at bay a cougar kills dogs by biting them, usually in the head; the -claws are used merely to scratch or rip, or to drag the dog within reach -of the jaws, and to hold it for the fatal bite. - -Miss Velvin’s studies of dangerous wild beasts in captivity show that -the cougar is ordinarily more playful and less wantonly ferocious than -the big spotted cats; but that there is a wide individual variation -among cougars, a few being treacherous, bad-tempered and dangerous. Mr. -Bostock, the animal trainer, states that the cougar is as a rule rather -stupid and far less courageous or dangerous than the other big cats, the -proportion of vicious individuals being very small. He regards bears as -being very dangerous. - -Mr. Charles Sheldon informs me that while on a ranch near Chihuahua he -at different times kept loose, as pets, a female cougar, three wolves, -and several coyotes, all taken when very young. All were exceedingly -tame and even affectionate, save at the moment of eating. - -Mr. W. H. Wright, of Spokane, Wash., is a hunter of wide experience, and -has probably made as close a life study of the bear—particularly the -grizzly—as anyone now alive. In speaking to me, he dwells on its wide -variation in habits, not only as among individuals, but as between all -the individuals of one locality when compared with those of another. -Thus, in the Big Horn or the Teton Mountains if an animal is killed, he -has in his experience found that any grizzly within range is almost sure -to come to the carcass (and this has been my experience in the same -region). In the Bitter Roots, where the bears live largely on fish, -berries and roots, he found the chances just about even whether the -bears would or would not come; whereas in the Selkirks, he found that -the bears would very rarely pay any attention to a carcass, this being a -place where game is comparatively scarce and where there are no salmon, -so that the bears live exclusively as vegetarians, save for eating small -mammals or insects. In the Bitter Roots Mountains the bears used to live -chiefly on fish in the spring and early in the fall; in the summer they -fed to a large extent on the shooting star, which grows on all the -marshes and is one of the familiar plants of the region, but did not -touch either the dog-tooth violet or the spring beauty, both of which -have little tubers on the roots. But in the Kootenay country he found -that the bears dug up acres and acres of these very dog-tooth violets -and spring beauties for the sake of the bulbs on their roots; and that -they rarely or never touched the shooting stars. All this illustrates -the extreme care which should be taken in making observations and in -dogmatizing from insufficient data; and also the absolute necessity, if -a full and accurate natural history is to be written, of drawing upon -the experience of very many different observers—provided, of course, -that they are trustworthy observers. - -For every one of our large beasts there should be at least one such work -as Lewis Morgan’s book on the beaver. The observations of many different -men, all accurate observers of wide experience, will be needed to make -any such book complete. Most hunters can now and then supply some -interesting experiences. Thus Gifford Pinchot and Harry Stimson, while -in the Montana Rockies last fall saw a she white goat beat off a war -eagle which had attacked her yearling young. The eagle swooped on the -yearling in most determined fashion; but the old she, rising on her hind -legs, caught the great bird fairly on her horns; and the eagle was too -roughly handled to repeat the onslaught. At nearly the same time, in -British Columbia, Senator Penrose and his brother were hunting bears. -The brother killed a yearling grizzly. While standing over the body, the -old she appeared and charged him. She took two bullets without -flinching, knocked him down, bit him severely, and would undoubtedly -have killed him had she not in the nick of time succumbed to her own -mortal wounds. - -Recently there has appeared a capital series of observations on wolves -by a trained field naturalist, Mr. Vernon Bailey. These first-hand -studies of wolves in their natural haunts show, among other things, -that, unlike the male cougar, the male wolf remains with the female -while she is rearing her young litter and, at least sometimes, forages -for her and them. According to Mr. Bailey’s observations the female dens -remote from all other females, having a large number of pups in a -litter; but the following interesting letter shows that in exceptional -cases two females may den together or near by one another. It is written -to Mr. Phillips, the joint author, with W. T. Hornaday, of the admirable -“Camp-Fires in the Canadian Rockies,” a book as interesting and valuable -to the naturalist as to the hunter. The letter runs as follows: - - “MEYERS FALLS, WASH., _Dec. 23, 1906_. - - “_Mr. John M. Phillips, Pittsburg, Pa._ - - “FRIEND JACK: Your favor of the 18th inst. to hand, and was very - much pleased to hear you had called on the President and to know - that you take so much interest in the protection of Pennsylvania - game. It is a step in the right direction. In regard to wolves I - have hunted them a great deal when they had pups and do not think I - would exaggerate any to say that I had found one hundred dens and - had destroyed the young. Often would be able to kill the mother. - What you read in the East about the dog wolf helping to raise the - young is true. They stay together until the young is large enough to - go with them and they all kill their food together because they can - handle a large brute easier. I found once, in Wyoming, seventeen - wolf pups in one den, eight black ones and nine greys. One of the - females was also black and one grey, and both dogs were grey. One of - the dogs was the largest I ever seen, and had the biggest foot. He - made a track a third larger than any I ever saw. The old ones had - evidently just butchered and was feeding the little ones when I came - in sight about 400 yards away. I believe a wolf has got the quickest - eye of any animal living, and just as my head came up over the hill - the old ones all looked my way apparently at the same time. It was - too far to shoot so I thought I would pretend I did not see them and - just simply ride by. After riding some distance three of the old - ones began to move away and to my surprise the big fellow came over - to head me off. He was just on top of a bench about 100 feet high, - and I knew it would not do to get down to shoot as one jump would - take him out of sight so I cracked my heels and let my pony have - them in the abdomen and ran for the top of the hill, but was running - against the wind and when I reached the top my eyes was watering so - I could not kill him, but give him a close call as I got a lock of - his hair. I found another den the same spring (in 1899) and I got - eight pups and there was five old ones. They had to go some distance - to find horses and cattle and there was a plain trail that I could - follow at least five miles without snow. Colts seem to be their - favorite dish when they can get them.[6] Wolves mate in January and - have their pups in March, but found one den once in February. Have - known a few to have their young as late as April 1st. The pups grow - faster than our domestic animals and usually leave the dens in May. - I do not think the mother enters the den (after the pups get large - enough to come out) in order to suckle them, as you can call them - out by hiding and making a whining noise. For example, I set a No. 4 - beaver trap in a hole where there was a lot of large pups and hid a - little way off and made a noise like the female when calling and - apparently they all started out at the same time and I caught two at - once in the same trap and of course each one thought the other was - biting his leg and I saw the most vicious scrap I ever seen out of - animals of their size. They just held on to one another like bull - dogs and apparently did not know I was around. - -Footnote 6: - - My own experience has been that wolves are more apt to kill cattle - than horses, whereas with cougars the reverse is true. It is - another instance of variability—doubtless both in the observed and - the observers. Wolves may seize an animal anywhere in a scuffle, - and a pack will literally tear a small deer to pieces; but when - one or two wolves attack a big animal, like a bull caribou, elk or - moose, or a horse or a steer, the killing or crippling wounds are - inflicted in the flanks, hams or throat. Very rarely an animal is - seized by the head. To any real naturalist or hunter, or indeed to - any competent observer, it is unnecessary to say that no wolf, and - no other wild beast, ever bites, or can by any possibility bite, - one of these large animals, like a horse, moose, or caribou, in - the heart; yet an occasional “nature fakir,” more than usually - reckless in his untruthfulness, will assert that such incidents do - happen; and, what is even more remarkable, uninformed people of - more than average credulity appear to believe the assertion. - - “Wolves go a long way sometimes for their food. I have tracked them - twenty-five miles from where they made a killing before finding - their den. The old dog will sometimes go off alone but does not - often kill when by himself. Would just as soon have a male track as - a female to follow for if you will stay with it it is dead sure to - lead to a den and it is easy to distinguish the difference between - the two tracks if you are on to your job. - - “Wishing you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, I am, - - “Your same old friend, - “R. M. NORBOE.” - -Mr. Bailey is one of a number of faunal naturalists, who, together with -certain big game hunters who care more for natural history than for mere -slaughter, are doing invaluable work in preserving the records of -wilderness life. If Mr. George Shiras will put in book form his -noteworthy collection of photographs of game, and of other wild -creatures, and his numerous field notes thereon, he will render a real -and great service to all lovers of nature. - -The most exciting and interesting hunting book that has recently -appeared deals with African big game. Many thrilling adventures with -lions have been recorded since the days when the Assyrian kings engraved -on stone their exploits in the chase; but the best lion stories that -have ever been written are those in Colonel Patterson’s “Maneaters of -Tsavo.” - -It is now (January, 1908) nearly five years since my last trip to the -Yellowstone Park. General Samuel Young, who is now in charge of the -park, informs me that on the whole the game and the wild creatures -generally in the park have increased during this period. The antelope he -reports as being certainly three times as numerous as they were ten -years ago, and nearly twice as numerous as when I was out there. In the -town of Gardiner they graze freely in the streets; not only the -inhabitants but even the dogs recognizing them as friends. Their chief -foes are the coyotes. Last October four full-grown antelope were killed -by coyotes on the Gardiner and Yellowstone flats, and many fawns were -destroyed by them during the season. Practically all of the antelope in -the park herd on the Gardiner flat and round about during the winter, -and during the present winter there is a good supply of hay on this -flat, which is being used to feed the antelope, mountain sheep, deer and -elk. The sheep are increasing in numbers. Probably about two hundred of -them now exist in the park. There are probably one hundred whitetail and -one thousand blacktail deer, both of which species are likewise -increasing; and the moose, although few in numbers, are also on the -increase. General Young reports that from his best information he -believes there are 25,000 wapiti in the park. Of the buffalo there are -now in fenced pastures fifty-nine. These increase very slowly, the -number of calves being small. There are probably about twenty-five of -the original wild buffalo still alive. The bears are as numerous as -ever. Last summer it became necessary to kill one black and two -grizzlies that had become dangerous; for some individuals among the -bears grow insolent under good treatment. The mountain lions, which five -years ago were so destructive to the deer and sheep, have been almost -exterminated. The tracks show that one still exists. Coyotes are -numerous and very destructive to the antelope, although ninety-nine were -destroyed during the past year. Beaver are abundant and are increasing. -Altogether the American people are to be congratulated upon the success -of the Yellowstone Park, not only as a national pleasure ground, but as -a national reserve for keeping alive the great and beautiful wild -creatures of the wilderness. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - SMALL COUNTRY NEIGHBORS - - -There is ample room for more complete life histories of many small -beasts that are common enough around our country homes; and fortunately -the need is now being met by various good field naturalists. Just last -summer, in mid-July, 1907, I had an entirely novel experience with -foxes, which illustrates how bold naturally shy creatures sometimes are -after nightfall. Some of the boys and I were camping for the night on -the beach by the Sound, under a clay bluff, having gone thither in the -dory and the two light rowing skiffs; it was about a quarter of a mile -from the place where we had seen the big red fox four or five years -previously. The fire burned all night, and one or other of the party -would now and then rise and stand by it; nevertheless, two young foxes, -evidently cubs of the year, came round the fire, within plain sight, -half a dozen times. They were picking up scraps; two or three times they -came within ten yards of the fire. They were very active, scampering up -the bluffs; and when in the bushes made a good deal of noise, whereas a -full-grown fox generally moves in silence even when in dead brush. - -Small mammals, with the exception of squirrels, are so much less -conspicuous than birds, and indeed usually pass their lives in such -seclusion, that the ordinary observer is hardly aware of their presence. -At Sagamore Hill, for instance, except at haying time I rarely see the -swarming meadow mice, the much less plentiful pine mice, or the little -mole-shrews, alive, unless they happen to drop into a pit or sunken area -which has been dug at one point to let light through a window into the -cellar. The much more graceful and attractive white-footed mice and -jumping mice are almost as rarely seen, though if one does come across a -jumping mouse it at once attracts attention by its extraordinary leaps. -The jumping mouse hibernates, like the woodchuck; and so does the -chipmunk, though not always. The other little animals just mentioned are -abroad all winter, the meadow mice under the snow, the white-footed -mice, and often the shrews, above the snow. The tell-tale snow, showing -all the tracks, betrays the hitherto unsuspected existence of many -little creatures; and the commonest marks upon it are those of the -rabbit and especially of the white-footed mouse. The shrew walks or -trots and makes alternate footsteps in the snow. White-foot, on the -contrary, always jumps, whether going slow or fast, and his hind feet -leave their prints side by side, often with the mark where the tail has -dragged. I think white-foot is the most plentiful of all our furred wild -creatures, taken as a whole. He climbs trees well; I have found his nest -in an old vireo’s nest; but more often under stumps or boards. The -meadow mice often live in the marshes, and are entirely at home in the -water. - -The shrew-mouse which I most often find is a short-tailed, rather -thickset little creature, not wholly unlike his cousin the shrew-mole, -and just as greedy and ferocious. When a boy I captured one of these -mole-shrews and found to my astonishment that he was a bloodthirsty and -formidable little beast of prey. He speedily killed and ate a partially -grown white-footed mouse which I put in the same cage with him. (I think -a full-grown mouse of this kind would be an overmatch for a shrew.) I -then put a small snake in with him. The shrew was very active but seemed -nearly blind, and as he ran to and fro he never seemed to be aware of -the presence of anything living until he was close to it, when he would -instantly spring on it like a tiger. On this occasion he attacked the -little snake with great ferocity, and after an animated struggle in -which the snake whipped and rolled all around the cage, throwing the -shrew to and fro a dozen times, the latter killed and ate the snake in -triumph. Larger snakes frequently eat shrews, by the way. - -Once last summer, while several of us were playing on the tennis ground, -a mole-shrew suddenly came out on the court. I first saw him near one of -the side lines, and ran after him; I picked him up in my naked hand, -whereupon he bit me, and I then took him in my handkerchief. After we -had all looked at him I put him down, and he scuttled off among the -grass and went down a little hole. We resumed our game, but after a few -minutes the shrew reappeared, and this time crossed the tennis court -near the net, while we gathered about him. He was an absurd little -creature and his motion in running was precisely like that of one of -those mechanical toys in the shape of mice or little bears which are -wound up and run around on wheels. When we put our rackets before him he -uttered little, shrill, long-continued squeals of irritation. We let him -go off in the grass, and this time he did not reappear for the day; but -next afternoon he repeated the feat. - -My boys have at intervals displayed a liking for natural history, and -one of them during some years took to trapping small mammals, -discovering species that I had no idea existed in certain places; near -Washington, but on the other side of the Potomac, he trapped several of -those very dainty little creatures, the harvest mice.[7] One of my other -boys—the special friend of Josiah the badger—discovered a -flying-squirrel’s nest, in connection with which a rather curious -incident occurred. The little boy had climbed a tree which is hollow at -the top; and in this hollow he discovered a flying-squirrel mother with -six young ones. She seemed so tame and friendly that the little boy for -a moment hardly realized that she was a wild thing, and called down that -he had “found a guinea pig up the tree.” Finally, the mother made up her -mind to remove her family. She took each one in turn in her mouth and -flew or sailed down from the top of the tree to the foot of another tree -near by; ran up this, holding the little squirrel in her mouth; and -again sailed down to the foot of another tree some distance off. Here -she deposited her young one on the grass, and then, reversing the -process, climbed and sailed back to the tree where the nest was; then -she took out another young one and returned with it, in exactly the same -fashion as with the first. She repeated this until all six of the young -ones were laid on the bank, side by side in a row, all with their heads -the same way. Finding that she was not molested she ultimately took all -six of the little fellows back to her nest, where she reared her brood -undisturbed. - -Footnote 7: - - A visit of this same small boy, when eleven years old, to John - Burroughs, is described by the latter in “Far and Near,” in the - chapter called “Babes in the Woods.” - -Flying squirrels become very gentle and attractive little pets if taken -into the house. I cannot say as much for gray squirrels. Once when a -small boy I climbed up to a large nest of dry leaves in the fork of a -big chestnut tree, and from it picked out three very young squirrels. -One died, but the other two I succeeded in rearing on a milk diet, which -at first I was obliged to administer with a syringe. They grew up -absolutely tame and would climb all over the various members of the -household; but as they grew older they grew cross. If we children did -something they did not like they would not only scold us vigorously, -but, if they thought the provocation warranted it, would bite severely; -and we finally exiled them to the woods. Gray squirrels, I am sorry to -say, rob nests just as red squirrels do. At Sagamore Hill I have more -than once been attracted by the alarm notes of various birds, and on -investigation have found the winged woodland people in great agitation -over a gray squirrel’s assault on the eggs or young of a thrush or -vireo; and once one of these good-looking marauders came up the hill to -harry a robin’s nest near the house. Many years ago I had an -extraordinary experience with a gray squirrel. I was in the edge of some -woods, and, seeing a squirrel, I stood motionless. The squirrel came to -me and actually climbed up me; I made no movement until it began to -nibble at my elbow, biting through my flannel shirt. When I moved, it of -course jumped off, but it did not seem much frightened and lingered for -some minutes in view, about thirty yards away. I have never understood -the incident. - -Among the small mammals at Sagamore Hill the chipmunks are the most -familiar and the most in evidence; for they readily become tame and -confiding. For three or four years a chipmunk—I suppose the same -chipmunk—has lived near the tennis court; and it has developed the -rather puzzling custom of sometimes scampering across the court while we -are in the middle of a game. This has happened two or three times every -year, and is rather difficult to explain, for the chipmunk could just as -well go round the court, and there seems no possible reason why he -should suddenly run out on it while the game is in full swing. If we see -him, we all stop to watch him, and then he may himself stop and look -about; but we may not see him until just as he is finishing a frantic -scurry across, in imminent danger of being stepped on. - -[Illustration: - - AUDREY TAKES THE BARS - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst -] - -The most attractive and sociable pet among wild creatures of its size I -have found to be a coon. One which when I was a boy I brought up from -the time it was very young, was as playful and affectionate as any -little dog, and used its little black paws just as if they were hands. -Coons, by the way, sometimes appear in political campaigns. Frequently -when I have been on the stump in places where there was still a strong -tradition of the old Whig party as it was in the days of Henry Clay and -Tippecanoe Harrison, I have reviewed processions in which log cabins and -coons were prominent features. The log cabins were usually miniature -representations, mounted on wheels, but the coons were genuine. Each was -usually carried by some enthusiast, who might lead it by a chain and -collar, but more frequently placed it upon a platform at the end of a -pole, chained up short. Most naturally the coon protested violently -against the proceedings; his only satisfaction being the certainty that -every now and then some other parader would stumble near enough to be -bitten. At one place an admirer suddenly presented me with one of these -coons and was then swept on in the crowd; leaving me gingerly holding by -the end of a chain an exceedingly active and short-tempered little -beast, which I had not the slightest idea how to dispose of. On two -other occasions, by the way, while off on campaign trips I was presented -with bears. These I firmly refused to receive. One of them was brought -to a platform by an old mountain hunter who, I am afraid, really had his -feelings hurt by the refusal. The other bear made his appearance at -Portland, Ore., and, of all places, was chained on top of a wooden -platform just aft the smokestack of an engine, the engine being -festooned with American flags. He belonged to the fireman, who had -brought him as a special gift; I being an honorary member of the -Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. His owner explained that normally he -was friendly; but the surroundings had curdled his temper. - -Usually birds are very regular in their habits, so that not only the -same species but the same individuals breed in the same places year -after year. In spite of their wings they are almost as local as mammals -and the same pair will usually keep to the same immediate neighborhood, -where they can always be looked for in their season. There are wooded or -brush-grown swampy places not far from the White House where in the -spring or summer I can count with certainty upon seeing wrens, chats, -and the ground-loving Kentucky warbler, an attractive little bird, -which, by the way, itself looks much like a miniature chat. There are -other places, in the neighborhood of Rock Creek, where I can be almost -certain of finding the blue-gray gnatcatcher, which ranks just next to -the humming-bird itself in exquisite daintiness and delicacy. The few -pairs of mocking-birds around Washington have just as sharply defined -haunts. - -Nevertheless it is never possible to tell when one may run across a rare -bird; and even birds that are not rare now and then show marked -individual idiosyncrasy in turning up, or even breeding, in unexpected -places. At Sagamore Hill, for instance, I never knew a purple finch to -breed until the summer of 1906. Then two pairs nested with us, one right -by the house and the other near the stable. My attention was drawn to -them by the bold, cheerful singing of the males, who were spurred to -rivalry by one another’s voices. In September of the same year, while -sitting in a rocking-chair on the broad veranda looking out over the -Sound, I heard the unmistakable “ank-ank” of nuthatches from a young elm -at one corner of the house. I strolled over, expecting to find the -white-bellied nuthatch, which is rather common on Long Island. But -instead there were a couple of red-bellied nuthatches, birds familiar to -me in the Northern woods, but which I had never before seen at Sagamore -Hill. They were tame and fearless, running swiftly up and down the -tree-trunk and around the limbs while I stood and looked at them not ten -feet away. The two younger boys ran out to see them; and then we hunted -up their picture in Wilson. I find, by the way, that Audubon’s and -Wilson’s are still the most satisfactory large ornithologies, at least -for nature lovers who are not specialists; of course any attempt at -serious study of our birds means recourse to the numerous and excellent -books and pamphlets by recent observers. Bendire’s large work gives -admirable biographies of all the birds it treats of; unfortunately it -was never finished. - -In May, 1907, two pairs of robins built their substantial nests, and -raised their broods, on the piazza at Sagamore Hill; one over the -transom of the north hall door and one over the transom of the south -hall door. Another pair built their nest and raised their brood on a -rafter in the half-finished new barn, quite undisturbed by the racket of -the carpenters who were finishing it. A pair of scarlet tanagers built -near the tennis ground; the male kept in the immediate neighborhood all -the time, flaming among the branches, and singing steadily until the -last part of July. To my ears the song of the tanager is like a louder, -more brilliant, less leisurely rendering of the red-eyed vireo’s song; -but with the characteristic “chip-churr” every now and then -interspersed. Only one pair of purple finches returned to us last -summer; and for the first time in many years no Baltimore orioles built -in the elm by the corner of the house; they began their nest but for -some reason left it unfinished. The red-winged blackbirds, however, were -more plentiful than for years previously, and two pairs made their nests -near the old barn, where the grass stood lush and tall; this was the -first time they had ever built nearer than the wood-pile pond, and I -believe it was owing to the season being so cold and wet. It was perhaps -due to the same cause that so many black-throated green warblers spent -June and July in the woods on our place; they must have been breeding, -though I only noticed the males. Each kept to his own special tract of -woodland, among the tops of the tall trees, seeming to prefer the -locusts, and throughout June, and far into July, each sang all day -long—a drawling, cadenced little warble of five or six notes, the first -two being the most noticeable near by, though, rather curiously, the -next two were the notes that had most carrying power. The song was -usually uttered at intervals of a few seconds; sometimes while the -singer was perched motionless, sometimes as he flitted and crawled -actively among the branches. With the resident of one particular grove I -became well acquainted, as I was chopping a path through the grove. -Every day when I reached the grove, I found the little warbler singing -away, and at least half the time in one particular locust tree. He paid -not the slightest attention to my chopping; whereas a pair of downy -woodpeckers and a pair of great-crested fly-catchers, both of them -evidently nesting near by, were much put out by my presence. While -listening to my little black-throated friend, I could also continually -hear the songs of his cousins, the prairie warbler, the redstart, the -black-and-white creeper and the Maryland yellow-throat; not to speak of -oven-birds, towhees, thrashers, vireos, and the beautiful golden-voiced -wood thrushes. - -The black-throated green warblers have seemingly become regular summer -residents of Long Island, for after discovering them on my place I found -that two or three bird-loving neighbors were already familiar with them; -and I heard them on several different occasions as I rode through the -country roundabout. I already knew as summer residents in my -neighborhood the following representatives of the warbler family: the -oven-bird, chat, black-and-white creeper, Maryland yellow-throat, summer -yellow-bird, prairie warbler, pine warbler, blue-winged warbler, -golden-winged warbler (very rare), blue yellow-backed warbler and -redstart. - -The black-throated green as a breeder and summer resident is a newcomer -who has extended his range southward. But this same summer I found one -warbler, the presence of which, if more than accidental, means that a -southern form is extending its range northward. This was the Dominican -or yellow-throated warbler. Two of my bird-loving neighbors are Mrs. E. -H. Swan, Jr., and Miss Alice Weekes. On July 4th Mrs. Swan told me that -a new warbler, the yellow-throated, was living near their house, and -that she and her husband had seen it there on several occasions. I was -rather skeptical, and told her I thought that it must be a Maryland -yellow-throat. Mrs. Swan meekly acquiesced in the theory that she might -have been mistaken; but two or three days afterward she sent me word -that she and Miss Weekes had seen the bird again, had examined it -thoroughly through their glasses, and were sure that it was a -yellow-throated warbler. Accordingly on the morning of the 8th I walked -down and met them both near Mrs. Swan’s house, about a mile from -Sagamore Hill. We did not have to wait long before we heard an -unmistakably new warbler’s song, loud, ringing, sharply accented, just -as the yellow-throat’s song is described in Chapman’s book. At first the -little bird kept high in the tops of the pines, but after a while he -came to the lower branches and we were able to see him distinctly. Only -a glance was needed to show that my two friends were quite right in -their identification and that the bird was undoubtedly the Dominican or -yellow-throated warbler. Its bill was as long as that of a -black-and-white creeper, giving the head a totally different look from -that of any of its brethren, the other true wood-warblers; and the -olive-gray back, yellow-throat and breast, streaked sides, white belly, -black cheek and forehead, and white line above the eye and spot on the -side of the neck, could all be plainly made out. The bird kept -continually uttering its loud, sharply modulated, and attractive warble. -It never left the pines, and though continually on the move, it yet -moved with a certain deliberation like a pine warbler, and not with the -fussy agility of most of its kinsfolk. Occasionally it would catch some -insect on the wing, but most of the time kept hopping about among the -needle-clad clusters of the pine twigs, or moving along the larger -branches, stopping from time to time to sing. Now and then it would sit -still on one twig for several minutes, singing at short intervals and -preening its feathers. - -[Illustration: - - THE STONE WALL - - From a photograph by Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth -] - -After looking at it for nearly an hour we had to solve the rather -difficult ethical question as to whether we ought to kill it or not. In -these cases it is always hard to draw the line between heartlessness and -sentimentality. In our own minds we were sure of our identification, and -did not feel that we could be mistaken, but we were none of us professed -ornithologists, and as far as I knew the bird was really rare thus far -north; so that it seemed best to shoot him, which was accordingly done. -I was influenced in this decision, in the first place because warblers -are so small that it is difficult for any observer to be absolutely -certain as to their identification; and in the next place by the fact -that the breeding season was undoubtedly over, and that this was an -adult male, so that no harm came to the species. I very strongly feel -that there should be no “collecting” of rare and beautiful species when -this is not imperatively demanded. Mocking-birds, for instance, are very -beautiful birds, well known and unmistakable; and there is not the -slightest excuse for “collecting” their nests and eggs or shooting -specimens of them, no matter where they may be found. So, there is no -excuse for shooting scarlet tanagers, summer redbirds, cardinals, nor of -course any of the common, well-known friends of the lawn, the garden and -the farm land; and with most birds nowadays observations on their habits -are of far more value than their skins can possibly be. But there must -be some shooting, especially of obscure and little-known birds, or we -would never be able to identify them at all; while most laymen are not -sufficiently close observers to render it possible to trust their -identification of rare species. - -In one apple tree in the orchard we find a flicker’s nest every year; -the young make a queer, hissing, bubbling sound, a little like the -boiling of a pot. This same year one of the young ones fell out; I -popped it back into the hole, whereupon its brothers and sisters -“boiled” for several minutes like the cauldron of a small and friendly -witch. John Burroughs, and a Long Island neighbor, John Lewis Childs, -drove over to see me, in this same June of 1907, and I was able to show -them the various birds of most interest—the purple finch, the -black-throated green warbler, the redwings in their unexpected nesting -place by the old barn, and the orchard orioles and yellow-billed cuckoos -in the garden. The orchard orioles this year took much interest in the -haying, gleaning in the cut grass for grasshoppers. The barn swallows -that nest in the stable raised second broods, which did not leave the -nest until the end of July. When the barn swallows gather in their great -flocks just prior to the southward migration, the gathering sometimes -takes place beside a house, and then the swallows seem to get so excited -and bewildered that they often fly into the house. When I was a small -boy I took a keen, although not a very intelligent, interest in natural -history, and solemnly recorded whatever I thought to be notable. When I -was nine years old we were passing the summer near Tarrytown, on the -Hudson. My diary for September 4, 1868, runs as follows: “Cold and -rainy. I was called in from breakfast to a room. When I went in there -what was my surprise to see on walls, curtains and floor about forty -swallows. All the morning long in every room of the house (even the -kitchen) were swallows. They were flying south. Several hundred were -outside and about seventy-five in the house. I caught most of them (and -put them out of the windows). The others got out themselves. One flew on -my pants where he stayed until I took him off.” - -At the White House we are apt to stroll around the grounds for a few -minutes after breakfast; and during the migrations, especially in -spring, I often take a pair of field glasses so as to examine any bird -as to the identity of which I am doubtful. From the end of April the -warblers pass in troops—myrtle, magnolia, chestnut-sided, bay-breasted, -blackburnian, black-throated blue, blue-winged, Canadian, and many -others, with at the very end of the season the black-poll—all of them -exquisite little birds, but not conspicuous as a rule, except perhaps -the blackburnian, whose brilliant orange throat and breast flame when -they catch the sunlight as he flits among the trees. The males in their -dress of courtship are easily recognized by any one who has Chapman’s -book on the warblers. On May 4, 1906, I saw a Cape May warbler, the -first I had ever seen. It was in a small pine. It was fearless, allowing -a close approach, and as it was a male in high plumage, it was -unmistakable. - -In 1907, after a very hot week in early March, we had an exceedingly -late and cold spring. The first bird I heard sing in the White House -grounds was a white-throated sparrow on March 1st, a song sparrow -speedily following. The white-throats stayed with us until the middle of -May, overlapping the arrival of the indigo buntings; but during the last -week in April and first week in May their singing was drowned by the -music of the purple finches, which I never before saw in such numbers -around the White House. When we sat by the south fountain, under an -apple tree then blossoming, sometimes three or four purple finches would -be singing in the fragrant bloom overhead. In June a pair of wood -thrushes and a pair of black-and-white creepers made their homes in the -White House grounds, in addition to our ordinary homemakers, the -flickers, redheads, robins, catbirds, song sparrows, chippies, summer -yellow-birds, grackles, and, I am sorry to say, crows. A handsome -sapsucker spent a week with us. In the same year five night herons spent -January and February in a swampy tract by the Potomac, half a mile or so -from the White House. - -At Mount Vernon there are of course more birds than there are around the -White House, for it is in the country. At present but one mocking-bird -sings around the house itself, and in the gardens and the woods of the -immediate neighborhood. Phœbe birds nest at the heads of the columns -under the front portico; and a pair—or rather, doubtless, a succession -of pairs—has nested in Washington’s tomb itself, for the twenty years -since I have known it. The cardinals, beautiful in plumage, and with -clear ringing voices, are characteristic of the place. I am glad to say -that the woods still hold many gray—not red—foxes; the descendants of -those which Washington so perseveringly hunted. - -At Oyster Bay on a desolate winter afternoon many years ago I shot an -Ipswich sparrow on a strip of ice-rimmed beach, where the long coarse -grass waved in front of a growth of blue berries, beach plums and -stunted pines. I think it was the same winter that we were visited not -only by flocks of cross-bills, pine linnets, red-polls and pine -grossbeaks, but by a number of snowy owls, which flitted to and fro in -ghost-like fashion across the wintry landscape and showed themselves far -more diurnal in their habits than our native owls. One fall about the -same time a pair of duck-hawks appeared off the bay. It was early, -before many ducks had come, and they caused havoc among the night -herons, which were then very numerous in the marshes around Lloyd’s -Neck, there being a big heronry in the woods near by. Once I saw a -duck-hawk come around the bend of the shore, and dart into a loose gang -of young night herons, still in the brown plumage, which had jumped from -the marsh at my approach. The pirate struck down three herons in -succession and sailed swiftly on without so much as looking back at his -victims.[8] The herons, which are usually rather dull birds, showed -every sign of terror whenever the duck-hawk appeared in the distance; -whereas, they paid no heed to the fish-hawks as they sailed overhead. I -found the carcass of a black-headed or Bonaparte’s gull which had -probably been killed by one of these duck-hawks; these gulls appear in -the early fall, before their bigger brothers, the herring gulls, have -come for their winter stay. The spotted sand-pipers often build far away -from water; while riding, early in July, 1907, near Cold Spring, my -horse almost stepped on a little fellow that could only just have left -the nest. It was in a dry road between upland fields; the parents were -near by, and betrayed much agitation. The little fish-crows are not rare -around Washington, though not so common as the ordinary crows; once I -shot one at Oyster Bay. They are not so wary as their larger kinsfolk, -but are quite as inveterate destroyers of the eggs and nestlings of more -attractive birds. The soaring turkey buzzards, so beautiful on the wing -and so loathsome near by, are seen everywhere around the Capital. - -Footnote 8: - - Dr. Lambert last fall, on a hunting trip in Northern Quebec, found a - gyrfalcon on an island in a lake which had just killed a great blue - heron; the heron’s feathers were scattered all over the lake. Lambert - also shot a great horned owl in the dusk one evening, and found that - it had a half-eaten duck in its claws. - -Bird songs are often puzzling, and it is nearly impossible to write them -down so that any one but the writer will recognize them. Moreover, as we -ascribe to them qualities, such as plaintiveness or gladness, which -really exist in our own minds and not in the songs themselves, two -different observers, equally accurate, may ascribe widely different -qualities to the same song. To me, for instance, the bush sparrow’s song -is more attractive than the vesper sparrow’s; but I think most of my -friends feel just the reverse way about the two songs. To most of us the -bobolink’s song bubbles over with rollicking merriment, with the glad -joy of mere living; whereas the thrushes, the meadow lark, the -white-throated sparrow, all have a haunting strain of sadness or -plaintiveness in their melody; but I am by no means sure that there is -the slightest difference of this kind in the singers. Most of the songs -of the common birds I recognize fairly well; but even with these birds -there will now and then be a call, or a few bars, which I do not -recognize; and if I hear a bird but seldom, I find much difficulty in -recalling its song, unless it is very well marked indeed. Last spring I -for a long time utterly failed to recognize the song of a water thrush -by Rock Creek; and later in the season I on one occasion failed to make -out the flight song of an oven-bird until in the middle of it the singer -suddenly threw in two or three of the characteristic “teacher, teacher” -notes. Even in neighborhoods with which I am familiar I continually hear -songs and calls which I cannot place. - -In Albemarle County, Virginia, we have a little place called Pine Knot, -where we sometimes go, taking some or all of the children, for a three -or four days’ outing. It is a mile from the big stock farm, Plain -Dealing, belonging to an old friend, Mr. Joseph Wilmer. The trees and -flowers are like those of Washington, but their general close -resemblance to those of Long Island is set off by certain exceptions. -There are osage orange hedges, and in spring many of the roads are -bordered with bands of the brilliant yellow blossoms of the flowering -broom, introduced by Jefferson. There are great willow oaks here and -there in the woods or pastures, and occasional groves of noble tulip -trees in the many stretches of forest; these tulip trees growing to a -much larger size than on Long Island. As at Washington, among the most -plentiful flowers are the demure little Quaker Ladies, which are not -found at Sagamore Hill—where we also miss such northern forms as the -wake robin and the other trilliums, which used to be among the -characteristic marks of spring-time at Albany. At Pine Knot the red bug, -dogwood and laurel are plentiful; though in the case of the last two no -more so than at Sagamore Hill. The azalea—its Knickerbocker name in New -York was pinkster—grows and flowers far more luxuriantly than on Long -Island. The moccasin flower, the china-blue Virginia cowslip with its -pale pink buds, the blood-red Indian pink, the painted columbine and -many, many other flowers somewhat less showy carpet the woods. - -The birds are, of course, for the most part the same as on Long Island, -but with some differences. These differences are, in part, due to the -more southern locality; but in part I cannot explain them, for birds -will often be absent from one place seemingly without any real reason. -Thus around us in Albemarle County song-sparrows are certainly rare and -I have not seen savanna sparrows at all; but the other common sparrows, -such as the chippy, field sparrow, vesper sparrow, and grasshopper -sparrow abound; and in an open field where bind-weed morning glories and -evening primroses grew among the broom sedge, I found some small -grass-dwelling sparrows, which with the exercise of some little patience -I was able to study at close quarters with the glasses; as I had no gun -I could not be positive about their identification, though I was -inclined to believe that they were Henslow’s sparrows. Of birds of -brilliant color there are six species—the cardinal, the summer redbird -and the scarlet tanager, in red, and the bluebird, indigo bunting, and -blue grossbeak, in blue. I saw but one pair of blue grossbeaks; but the -little indigo buntings abound, and bluebirds are exceedingly common, -breeding in numbers. It has always been a puzzle to me why they do not -breed around us at Sagamore Hill, where I only see them during the -migrations. Neither the rosy summer redbirds nor the cardinals are quite -as brilliant as the scarlet tanagers, which fairly burn like live -flames; but the tanager is much less common than either of the others in -Albemarle County, and it is much less common than it is at Sagamore -Hill. Among the singers the wood thrush is not common, but the meadow -lark abounds. The yellow-breasted chat is everywhere and in the spring -its clucking, whistling and calling seem never to stop for a minute. The -white-eyed vireo is found in the same thick undergrowth as the chat and -among the smaller birds it is one of those most in evidence to the ear. -In one or two places I came across parties of the long-tailed Bewick’s -wren, as familiar as the house wren but with a very different song. -There are gentle mourning doves; and black-billed cuckoos seem more -common than the yellow-bills. The mocking-birds are, as always, most -interesting. I was much amused to see one of them following two crows; -when they lit in a plowed field the mocking-bird paraded alongside of -them six feet off, and then fluttered around to the attack. The crows, -however, were evidently less bothered by it than they would have been by -a kingbird. At Plain Dealing many birds nest within a stone’s throw of -the rambling attractive house, with its numerous outbuildings, old -garden, orchard, and venerable locusts and catalpas. Among them are -Baltimore and orchard orioles, purple grackles, flickers and red-headed -woodpeckers, bluebirds, robins, kingbirds and indigo buntings. One -observation which I made was of real interest. On May 18, 1907, I saw a -small party of a dozen or so of passenger pigeons, birds I had not seen -for a quarter of a century and never expected to see again. I saw them -two or three times flying hither and thither with great rapidity, and -once they perched in a tall dead pine on the edge of an old field. They -were unmistakable; yet the sight was so unexpected that I almost doubted -my eyes, and I welcomed a bit of corroborative evidence coming from -Dick, the colored foreman at Plain Dealing. Dick is a frequent companion -of mine in rambles around the country, and he is an unusually close and -accurate observer of birds, and of wild things generally. Dick had -mentioned to me having seen some “wild carrier pigeons,” as he called -them; and, thinking over this remark of his, after I had returned to -Washington, I began to wonder whether he too might not have seen -passenger pigeons. Accordingly I wrote to Mr. Wilmer, asking him to -question Dick and find out what the “carrier pigeons” looked like. His -answering letter runs in part as follows: - - “On May 12th last Dick saw a flock of about thirty wild pigeons, - followed at a short distance by about half as many, flying in a - circle very rapidly, between the Plain Dealing house and the - woods, where they disappeared. They had pointed tails and - resembled somewhat large doves—the breast and sides rather a - brownish red. He had seen them before, but many years ago. I think - it is unquestionably the passenger pigeon—_Ectopistes - migratorius_—described on p. 25 of the 5th volume of Audubon. I - remember the pigeon roosts as he describes them, on a smaller - scale, but large flocks have not been seen in this part of - Virginia for many years.” - -I fear, by the way, that the true prairie chicken, one of the most -characteristic American game birds, will soon follow the passenger -pigeon. My two elder sons have now and then made trips for prairie -chickens and ducks to the Dakotas. Last summer, 1907, the second boy -returned from such a trip—which he had ended by a successful deer hunt -in Wisconsin—with the melancholy information that the diminution in the -ranks of the prairie fowl in the Dakotas was very evident. - -The house at Pine Knot consists of one long room, with a broad piazza, -below, and three small bedrooms above. It is made of wood, with big -outside chimneys at each end. Wood rats and white-footed mice visit it; -once a weasel came in after them; now a flying squirrel has made his -home among the rafters. On one side the pines and on the other side the -oaks come up to the walls; in front the broom sedge grows almost to the -piazza and above the line of its waving plumes we look across the -beautiful rolling Virginia farm country to the foothills of the Blue -Ridge. At night whippoorwills call incessantly around us. In the late -spring or early summer we usually take breakfast and dinner on the -veranda listening to mocking-bird, cardinal, and Carolina wren, as well -as to many more common singers. In the winter the little house can only -be kept warm by roaring fires in the great open fireplaces, for there is -no plaster on the walls, nothing but the bare wood. Then the table is -set near the blazing logs at one end of the long room which makes up the -lower part of the house, and at the other end the colored cook—Jim Crack -by name—prepares the delicious Virginia dinner; while around him cluster -the little darkies, who go on errands, bring in wood, or fetch water -from the spring, to put in the bucket which stands below where the gourd -hangs on the wall. Outside the wind moans or the still cold bites if the -night is quiet; but inside there is warmth and light and cheer. - -There are plenty of quail and rabbits in the fields and woods near by, -so we live partly on what our guns bring in; and there are also wild -turkeys. I spent the first three days of November, 1906, in a finally -successful effort to kill a wild turkey. Each morning I left the house -between three and five o’clock, under a cold brilliant moon. The frost -was heavy; and my horse shuffled over the frozen ruts as I rode after -Dick. I was on the turkey grounds before the faintest streak of dawn had -appeared in the east; and I worked as long as daylight lasted. It was -interesting and attractive in spite of the cold. In the night we heard -the quavering screech owls; and occasionally the hooting of one of their -bigger brothers. At dawn we listened to the lusty hammering of the big -logcocks, or to the curious coughing or croaking sound of a hawk before -it left its roost. Now and then loose flocks of small birds straggled -past us as we sat in the blind, or rested to eat our lunch; chickadees, -tufted tits, golden-crested kinglets, creepers, cardinals, various -sparrows and small woodpeckers. Once we saw a shrike pounce on a field -mouse by a haystack; once we came on a ruffed grouse sitting motionless -in the road. - -[Illustration: - - ROSWELL BEHAVES LIKE A GENTLEMAN - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst -] - -The last day I had with me Jim Bishop, a man who had hunted turkeys by -profession, a hard-working farmer, whose ancestors have for generations -been farmers and woodmen; an excellent hunter, tireless, resourceful, -with an eye that nothing escaped; just the kind of a man one likes to -regard as typical of what is best in American life. Until this day, and -indeed until the very end of this day, chance did not favor us. We tried -to get up to the turkeys on the roost before daybreak; but they roosted -in pines and, night though it was, they were evidently on the lookout, -for they always saw us long before we could make them out, and then we -could hear them fly out of the tree-tops. Turkeys are quite as wary as -deer, and we never got a sight of them while we were walking through the -woods; but two or three times we flushed gangs, and my companion then at -once built a little blind of pine boughs in which we sat while he tried -to call the scattered birds up to us by imitating, with marvellous -fidelity, their yelping. Twice a turkey started toward us, but on each -occasion the old hen began calling some distance off and all the -scattered birds at once went toward her. At other times I would slip -around to one side of a wood while my companion walked through it, but -either there were no turkeys or they went out somewhere far away from -me. - -On the last day I was out thirteen hours. Finally, late in the -afternoon, Jim Bishop marked a turkey into a point of pines which -stretched from a line of wooded hills down into a narrow open valley on -the other side of which again rose wooded hills. I ran down to the end -of the point and stood behind a small oak, while Bishop and Dick walked -down through the trees to drive the turkey toward me. This time -everything went well; the turkey came out of the cover not too far off -and sprang into the air, heading across the valley and offering me a -side shot at forty yards as he sailed by. It was just the distance for -the close-shooting ten-bore duck gun I carried; and at the report down -came the turkey in a heap, not so much as a leg or wing moving. It was -an easy shot. But we had hunted hard for three days; and the turkey is -the king of American game birds; and, besides, I knew he would be very -good eating indeed when we brought him home; so I was as pleased as -possible when Dick lifted the fine young gobbler, his bronze plumage -iridescent in the light of the westering sun. - -Formerly we could ride across country in any direction around Washington -and almost as soon as we left the beautiful, tree-shaded streets of the -city we were in the real country. But as Washington grows, it -naturally—and to me most regrettably—becomes less and less like its -former, glorified-village, self; and wire fencing has destroyed our old -cross-country rides. Fortunately there are now many delightful bridle -trails in Rock Creek Park; and we have fixed up a number of good jumps -at suitable places—a stone wall, a water jump, a bank with a ditch, two -or three posts-and-rails, about four feet high, and some stiff brush -hurdles, one of five feet seven inches. The last, which is the only -formidable jump was put up to please two sporting members of the -administration, Bacon and Meyer. Both of them school their horses over -it; and my two elder boys, and Fitzhugh Lee, my cavalry aide, also -school my horses over it. On one of my horses, Roswell, I have gone over -it myself; and as I weigh two hundred pounds without my saddle I think -that the jump, with such a weight, in cold blood, should be credited to -Roswell for righteousness. Roswell is a bay gelding; Audrey a black -mare; they are Virginia horses. In the spring of 1907 I had photographs -of them taken going over the various jumps. Roswell is a fine jumper, -and usually goes at his jumps in a spirit of matter-of-fact enjoyment. -But he now and then shows queer kinks in his temper. On one of these -occasions he began by wishing to rush his jumps, and by trying to go -over the wings instead of the jumps themselves. He fought hard for his -head; and as it happened that the best picture we got of him in the air -was at this particular time, it gives a wrong idea of his ordinary -behavior, and also, I sincerely trust, a wrong idea of my hands. -Generally he takes his jumps like a gentleman. - -Many of the men with whom I hunted or with whom I was brought in close -contact when I lived on my ranch, and still more of the men who were -with me in the Rough Riders, have shared in some way or other in my -later political life. Phil Stewart was one of the Presidential Electors -who in 1904 gave me Colorado’s vote; Merrifield filled the same position -in Montana and is now Marshal of that State. Cecil Lyon and Sloan -Simpson, of Texas, were delegates for me at the National Convention -which nominated me in 1904. Sewell is Collector of Customs in Maine; -Sylvans and Joe Ferris are respectively Register of the Land Office and -Postmaster in North Dakota; Dennis Shea with whom I worked on the Little -Missouri round-up holds my commission as Marshal of North Dakota. -Abernathy the wolf hunter is my Marshal in Oklahoma. John Willis -declined to take any place; when he was last my guest at the White House -he told me, I am happy to say, that he does better with his ranch than -he could have done with any office. Johnny Goff is a forest ranger near -the Yellowstone Park. Seth Bullock is Marshal of South Dakota; he too is -an old friend of my ranch days and was sheriff in the Black Hills when I -was deputy sheriff due north of him in Billings County, in the then -Territory of Dakota. Among the people that we both arrested, by the way, -was a young man named “Calamity Joe,” a very well-meaning fellow but a -wild boy who had gone astray, as wild boys often used to go astray on -the frontier, through bad companionship. To my great amusement his uncle -turned up as United States Senator some fifteen years later, and was one -of my staunch allies. Of the men of the regiment Lieutenant Colonel -Brodie I made Governor of Arizona, Captain Frantz, Governor of Oklahoma, -and Captain Curry Governor of New Mexico. Ben Daniels I appointed -Marshal of Arizona; Colbert, the Chickasaw, Marshal in the Indian -Territory. Llewellyn is District Attorney in New Mexico. Jenkins is -Collector of Internal Revenue in South Carolina. Fred Herrig, who was -with me on the Little Missouri, where we hunted the blacktail and the -bighorn together, and who later served under me at Santiago, is a forest -ranger in Montana; and many other men of my old regiment have taken up -with unexpected interest occupations as diverse as those of postmaster, -of revenue agent, of land and forest officers of various kinds. Joe Lee -is Minister to Ecuador; John McIlhenny is Civil Service Commissioner; -Craig Wadsworth is Secretary of Legation at the Court of St. James; -Mason Mitchell is Consul in China, having already been Consul at -Mozambique, where he spent his holidays in hunting the biggest of the -world’s big game. - -[Illustration: - - ROSWELL FIGHTS FOR HIS HEAD - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst -] - -Appointments to public office must of course be made primarily because -of the presumable fitness of the man for the position. But even the most -rigid moralist ought to pardon the occasional inclusion of other -considerations. I am glad that I have been able to put in office certain -outdoor men who were typical leaders in the old life of the frontier, -the daring adventurous life of warfare against wild man and wild nature -which has now so nearly passed away. Bat Masterson, formerly of Dodge -City and the Texas cattle trail, the most famous of the oldtime -marshals, the iron-nerved gun-fighters of the border, is now a deputy -marshal in New York, under District Attorney Stimson—himself a big game -hunter, by the way. Pat Garret, who slew Billy the Kid, I made Collector -of Customs at El Paso; and other scarred gun-fighters of the vanished -frontier, with to their credit deeds of prowess as great as those of -either Masterson or Garret, now hold my commissions, on the Rio Grande, -in the Territories, or here and there in the States of the Rocky -Mountains and the Great Plains. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter, by -Theodore Roosevelt - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER *** - -***** This file should be named 61935-0.txt or 61935-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/9/3/61935/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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