128 The Black-Tail Deer. 



ness, only surpassed by the feats of the big-horn in 

 similar localities, and not equalled by-trvu^ of any other 

 plains game. 



One of the noticeable things in western plains hunting 

 is the different zones or bands of territory inhabited by 

 different kinds of game. Along the alluvial land of the 

 rivers and large creeks is found the white-tail. Back of 

 these alluvial lands generally comes a broad tract of 

 broken, hilly country, scantily clad with brush in some 

 places; this is the abode of the black-tail deer. And 

 where these hills rise highest, and where the ground is 

 most rugged and barren, there the big-horn is found. 

 After this hilly country is passed, in travelling away 

 from the river, we come to the broad, level plains, the 

 domain of the antelope. Of course the habitats of the 

 different species overlap at the edges; and this over- 

 lapping is most extended in the cases of the big-horn 

 and the black-tail. 



The Bad Lands are the favorite haunts of the black- 

 tail. Here the hills are steep and rugged, cut up and 

 crossed in every direction by canyon-like ravines and val- 

 leys, which branch out and subdivide in the most intri- 

 cate and perplexing manner. Here and there are small 

 springs, or pools, marked by the greener vegetation 

 growing round them. Along the bottoms and sides of 

 the ravines there are patches of scrubby undergrowth, 

 and in many of the pockets or glens in the sides of the 

 hills the trees grow to some little height. High buttes 

 rise here and there, naked to the top, or else covered with 

 stunted pines and cedars, which also grow in the deep 



