EARLY DAY STORIES. 219 



bushes. It was curious to see how very careful and watch- 

 ful they were all the time. They were all feeding, but some 

 of them had their heads up in the air and were looking 

 around all the time. One would put its head down, take 

 three or four bites of grass and then raise its head and look 

 about. All at once an old doe nearest to me gave a sort of 

 whistle, or signal of alarm and away they went, turning to 

 look back after they had gone about thirty rods, then again 

 raising their white tails they went over the hill out of sight. 

 The most striking feature of the actions of the deer, elk 

 and antelope is their extreme watchfulness. They are on 

 the lookout for danger all the time. 



Once when tracing a section line I came upon a herd 

 of black tail deer on a hillside. There were thirteen of them 

 in sight, all lying down in the sunshine whether there were 

 more than that number in the drove or not I do not know, 

 as I did not disturb them. I watched them for some time, 

 for it was a very interesting sight. Among them was a big 

 buck with wide spreading antlers. The place where they 

 were lying was well chosen for safety, because the lay of 

 the land, and the direction of the wind were such that it 

 would not have been easy for a hunter to approach within 

 shooting distance without being discovered. 



It is remarkable how sagacious both the elk and black 

 tail deer are in selecting a safe place to lie down to rest. 

 They do not seek to hide themselves in dense cover as do 

 white tail deer, but they lie out in the open where the sur- 

 roundings are such that they can either see or smell an 

 approaching enemy; especially is this true of the elk, and 

 to quite an extent of black tail deer. If the wind changes 

 a herd of elk will immediately begin to sniff the air, and will 

 at once change their position for a safer one. This I saw 

 a herd of elk do at one time in southern Holt county. The 

 instant the wind shifted, up went their noses into the air, 

 and they at once began to move off. 



