72 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



by the name of Sandy, were sleeping in a hut, when 

 a skunk burrowed under the logs and got in. Hear- 

 ing it moving about among the tin pans Sandy 

 struck a light, was much taken by the familiarity of 

 the pretty black and white little animal, and, as 

 it seemed in his eyes a curiosity, took a shot at it 

 with his revolver. He missed ; the skunk, for a won- 

 der, retired promptly without taking any notice of 

 the attack; and the rest of the alarmed sleepers, 

 when informed of the cause of the shot, cursed the 

 Scotchman up hill and down dale for having so 

 nearly brought dire confusion on them all. The 

 latter took the abuse very philosophically, merely re- 

 marking : "I'm glad a did na kill him mysel' ; he 

 seemed such a dacent wee beastie." The sequel 

 proved that neither the skunk nor Sandy had learned 

 any wisdom by the encounter, for half an hour later 

 the "dacent wee beastie" came back, and this time 

 Sandy fired at him with fatal effect. Of course the 

 result was a frantic rush of all hands from the hut, 

 Sandy exclaiming with late but sincere repentance: 

 "A did na ken 't wad cause such a tragadee." 



Besides curlew and plover there are at times, espe- 

 cially during the migrations, a number of species of 

 other waders to be found along the streams and pools 

 in the cattle region. Yellowlegs, yelper, willet, mar- 

 lin, dough bird, stilt, and avocet are often common, 

 but they do not begin to be as plentiful as they are 

 in the more fertile lands to the eastward, and the 

 ranchmen never shoot at them or follow them as 

 game birds. 



