CHAPTER IX. 



STILL-HUNTING ELK ON THE MOUNTAINS. 



FTER the buffalo the elk are 

 the first animals to disappear 

 from a country when it is 

 settled. This arises from their 

 size and consequent conspicuous- 

 ness, and the eagerness with 

 which they are followed by hunt- 

 ers ; and also because of their 

 gregariousness and their occa- 

 sional fits of stupid panic during whose continuance 

 hunters can now and then work great slaughter in a 

 herd. Five years ago elk were abundant in the val- 

 ley of the Little Missouri, and in fall were found 

 wandering in great bands of over a hundred individuals 

 each. But they have now vanished completely, ex- 

 cept that one or two may still lurk in some of the most 

 remote and broken places, where there are deep, wooded 

 ravines. 



Formerly the elk were plentiful all over the plains, 



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