Still-Hunting Elk. 



forests, and in their manners remind one of the spruce 

 grouse of the Northeastern woods, being almost 

 equally tame. When alarmed, they fly at once into a 

 tree, and several can often be shot before the remainder 

 take fright and are off. On this trip we killed a good 

 many, shooting off their heads with our rifles. They 

 formed a most welcome addition to our bill of fare, the 

 meat being white and excellent. A curious peculiarity 

 in their flesh is that the breast meat has in it a layer 

 of much darker color. They are very handsome birds, 

 and furnish dainty food to men wearied of venison ; but, 

 unless their heads are knocked off with a rifle, they do 

 not furnish much sport, as they will not fly off when 

 flushed, but simply rise into a fairly tall tree, and there 

 sit, motionless, except that the head is twisted and 

 bobbed round to observe the acts of the foe. 



All of the sights and sounds in these pine woods 

 that clothed the Bighorn Mountains reminded me of 

 the similar ones seen and heard in the great, sombre 

 forests of Maine and the Adirondacks. The animals and 

 birds were much the same. As in the East, there were 

 red squirrels, chipmunks, red hares, and woodchucks, all 

 of them differing but slightly from our common kinds ; 

 woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and whiskey jacks 

 came about camp ; ravens and eagles flew over the rocky 

 cliffs. There were some new forms, however. The nut- 

 cracker, a large, noisy, crow-like bird, with many of the 

 habits of a woodpecker, was common, and in the rocks 

 above timber line, we came upon the Little Chief hare, 

 a wee animal, with a shrill, timorous squeak. 



