Deer of the River Bottoms. 113 



he either sees the motionless form of a deer, not a 

 great distance off, regarding him intently for a moment 

 before taking flight ; or else he hears a sudden crash, 

 and catches a glimpse of the animal as it lopes into the 

 bushes. In either case, he must shoot quick ; but the shot 

 is a close one. 



If he is heard or seen a long way off, the deer is very 

 apt, instead of running away at full speed, to skulk off 

 quietly through the bushes. But when suddenly startled, 

 the white-tail makes off at a great rate, at a rolling gallop, 

 the long, broad tail, pure white, held up in the air. In 

 the dark or in thick woods, often all that can be seen is the 

 flash of white from the tail. The head is carried low and 

 well forward in running ; a buck, when passing swiftly 

 through thick underbrush, usually throws his horns back 

 almost on his shoulders, with his nose held straight in 

 front. White-tail venison is, in season, most delicious 

 eating, only inferior to the mutton of the mountain 

 sheep. 



Among the places which are most certain to con- 

 tain white-tails may be mentioned the tracts of swampy 

 ground covered with willows and the like, which are to be 

 found in a few (and but a few) localities through the 

 plains country ; there are, for example, several such 

 along the Powder River, just below where the Little 

 Powder empties into it. Here there is a dense growth 

 of slim-stemmed young trees, sometimes almost impene- 

 trable, and in other places opening out into what seem 

 like arched passage-ways, through which a man must at 

 times go almost on all fours. The ground may be cov- 



