On the Cattle Ranges 89 



swoops at geese, sage fowl, and prairie fowl. On 

 one occasion while riding over the range I witnessed 

 an attack on a jack-rabbit. The eagle was soaring 

 overhead, and espied the jack while the latter was 

 crouched motionless. Instantly the great bird 

 rushed down through the humming air, with closed 

 wings; checked itself when some forty yards above 

 the jack, hovered for a moment, and again fell like 

 a bolt. Away went long-ears, running as only a 

 frightened jack can; and after him the eagle, not 

 with the arrowy rush of its descent from high air, 

 but with eager, hurried flapping. In a short time 

 it had nearly overtaken the fugitive, when the latter 

 dodged sharply to one side, and the eagle overshot 

 it precisely as a greyhound would have done, stop 

 ping itself by a powerful, setting motion of the great 

 pinions. Twice this manoeuvre was repeated; then 

 the eagle made a quick rush, caught and overthrew 

 the quarry before it could turn, and in another 

 moment was sitting triumphant on the quivering 

 body, the crooked talons driven deep into the soft, 

 furry sides. 



Once while hunting mountain sheep in the Bad 

 Lands I killed an eagle on the wing with the rifle. 

 I was walking beneath a cliff of gray clay, when 

 the eagle sailed into view over the crest. As soon 

 as he saw me he threw his wings aback, and for a 

 moment before wheeling poised motionless, offering 

 a nearly stationary target ; so that my bullet grazed 



