122 Indians Obtaining Game. [ ZOE 
a ‘‘native’’ to procure seventeen geese in a single charge, on horse- 
back, through a flock of several acres, by riding near the flock and 
suddenly putting spurs to his horse and striking the geese with a 
club: The wielders of the lasso and club were probably Mexicans. 
but the manner of killing the geese deserves mention here. 
Lieutenant Birnie, in Geographical Surveys west of the One Hun- 
dreth Meridian, describes peculiar blinds that the Indians near 
Death Valley made, just by springs and artificial ponds, for the pur- 
pose of killing quail and other birds. The blinds had the general 
appearance of beehives; were made of rushes and small boughs in 
terlaced, with an opening for entrance on the side away from the 
spring. The inside was large enough to seat one person. There | 
was a small hole on the side toward the water through which the 
arrow was shot. A string was attached to the arrow, and repeated 
shots could be made with it without alarming the game. 
The Indians of Calaveras County catch mountain quail (Oreortyx) 
with snares of hair and twine. They make brush fences, about two 
feet high and from a fourth to half a mile long, leading obliquely from 
a creek or cafion, over a hill that is covered with a dwarfed growth 
of chaparral. Holes large enough for a quail to pass through are 
left in the fence, and in these holes the snare is placed. The birds 
are driven toward and along the fence, care being taken not to press 
them too hard. The birds are taken from the snares a little later 
and are usually uninjured by the snare, the loop of which is intended 
to catch the quail around the body in front of the wings. 
I suppose these Indians sometimes caught deer in snares, having 
_ once, while following a deer-path through a thicket of small pines, 
found a rope-snare fastened to the top of a bent sapling and so set 
as to endanger any deer that might pass along the path. 
The Pit River Indians caught game by digging pits about six — 
feet deep and covering them with twigs and grass. This custom 
gave the name to the river and tribe. 
Mr. Ridgway, in Ornithology of the Fortieth Parallel, says the 
Indians of the Great Basin [in Nevada] made elaborate decoys of 
canvas-back and red-head ducks, the skins stretched over bodies 
of dried tules, the heads prepared and poised in a 
that of the most accomplished taxidermist. 
__ was fastened by astone tied toa string, 
fastened to the bill. 
style equal to 
The floating decoy 
the other end of which was 
