The Wapiti or Rottnd-Homed Elk. 173 



crusts. The chickarees often ascend to the highest pine 

 tops, where they cut off the cones, dropping them to the 

 ground with a noise which often for a moment puzzles 

 the still-hunter. 



Two of the most striking and characteristic birds to be 

 seen by him who hunts and camps among the pine-clad 

 and spruce-clad slopes of the northern Rockies are a small 

 crow and a rather large woodpecker. The former is 

 called Clarke's crow, and the latter Lewis' woodpecker. 

 Their names commemorate their discoverers, the explorers 

 Lewis and Clarke, the first white men who crossed the 

 United States to the Pacific, the pioneers of that great 

 army of adventurers who since then have roamed and 

 hunted over the Great Plains and among the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



These birds are nearly of a size, being about as large 

 as a flicker. The Clarke's crow, an ash-colored bird with 

 black wings and white tail and forehead, is as common as 

 it is characteristic, and is sure to attract attention. It is 

 as knowing as the rest of its race, and very noisy and 

 active. It flies sometimes in a straight line, with regular 

 wing-beats, sometimes in a succession of loops like a 

 woodpecker, and often lights on rough bark or a dead 

 stump in an attitude like the latter ; and it is very fond of 

 scrambling and clinging, often head downwards, among 

 the outermost cones on the top of a pine, chattering loudly 

 all the while. One of the noticeable features of its flight 

 is the hollow, beating sound of the wings. It is restless 

 and fond of company, going by preference in small parties. 

 These little parties often indulge in regular plays, assem- 



