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 ata 
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 
19 289 
