Blacktails in the Bad Lands 



pleasing experiences of their habits, and did 

 not care just then to be stamped flat. 



To the left, a few hundred yards away, was 

 a long valley leading to the river and far out 

 into the prairie, wooded in patches, with 

 small pockets at intervals along the sides, 

 filled with low brush. Here at other times I 

 had jumped whitetails from their daytime 

 naps, and once had had a running shot at a 

 large prairie-wolf Bearing all this in mind, I 

 veered over toward the valley, and had not 

 gone far when I saw in the distance a black- 

 tail buck come skipping out of it, and moving 

 with high, long bounds, as is the way of its 

 kind when frightened or going at speed. 



These bounds, by the way, are very curi- 

 ous : the animal lands on all four feet at once, 

 in such a small area that a sombrero would 

 cover the four footprints. On a few oc- 

 casions, when very badly frightened, I have 

 seen them run level, like a race-horse; but 

 that gait is so unusual as hardly to be 

 considered characteristic of this deer. The 

 deer in question, after a few long jumps, 

 settled down into a trot, then into a walk, 

 and finally stopped and looked about. He 



^9 289 



