American Big Game in its Haunts 



any description at a distance must necessarily be 

 shadowy and unreal, only the dry bones of some- 

 thing which one sees there, a thing of beauty and 

 instinct with life. 



The characteristic feature of these southern 

 forests is their open nature; so far as the rough- 

 ness of the mountains will permit, one may go 

 anywhere in the saddle without being hindered by 

 underbrush. Outside of their limits, however, and 

 on many hillsides within the reserves, the chapar- 

 ral offers an impenetrable barrier; in some of 

 them this growth has captured the greater por- 

 tion of their surface. The forests themselves are 

 often very beautiful; growing, as they do, openly, 

 there is constant sunlight during many months of 

 the year, so that all the ground is warm and 

 vibrant with energy. As a natural consequence, 

 great individuality is shown in the tree forms, as 

 different as possible from the gloom and severe 

 uniformity of the Oregon and Washington forests. 

 The former are dry, light, and cheerful ; the latter, 

 moist, dark, silent, and somewhat forbidding. 

 The northern forests of the Coast have their at- 

 tractive features, to be sure; they are fecund, 

 solemn, and majestic, but the prevailing note is 

 not cheerfulness, as here in the south. 



In a paper of the present proportions it is im- 

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