122 Indians Obtaining Game. [zo?: 



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 lo his horse and striking the geese with ;i 

 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, tor 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 oi 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 Irom 

 a creek or caiion, 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 

 lo 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 si.x 

 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 style equal to 

 that of the most accomplished taxidermist. The floating dec^y 

 was fastened by a stone tied to a string, the other end of which was 

 fastened to the bill. 



