American Big Game in its Haunts 



and some fifty yards off. That evening on my re- 

 turn to camp we watched the band make its way 

 right down tO' the river bed, going over places 

 where it did not seem possible a four-footed crea- 

 ture could pass. They halted to graze here and 

 there, and down the worst places they went very 

 fast with great bounds. It was a marvelous ex- 

 hibition of climbing. 



After we had finished this horseback trip we 

 went on sleds and skis to the upper Geyser Basin 

 and the Falls of the Yellowstone. Although it 

 was the third week in April, the snow was still 

 several feet deep, and only thoroughly trained 

 snow horses could have taken the sleighs along, 

 while around the Yellowstone Falls it was possible 

 to move only on snowshoes. There was very lit- 

 tle life in those woods. We saw an occasional 

 squirrel, rabbit or marten; and in the open 

 meadows around the hot waters there were geese 

 and ducks, and now and then a coyote. Around 

 camp Clark's crows and Stellar's jays, and occa- 

 sionally magpies came to pick at the refuse; and of 

 course they were accompanied by the whiskey 

 jacks with their usual astounding familiarity. At 

 Norris Geyser Basin there was a perfect chorus of 

 bird music from robins, purple finches, juncos and 

 mountain bluebirds. In the woods there were 



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