Wild Animals You May Know * * * 63 



found, as the visitors will also, that hunting with a camera is vastly 

 more sporting and exciting than is hunting with a gun, particularly 

 with the new hand motion-picture cameras which show the movements 

 of these inhabitants of the forest. 



In addition to the animals already mentioned, there are literally 

 scores of smaller animals and birds, and also that interesting and some 

 what unwelcome group, the predatory animals. The latter include moun 

 tain lions, bobcats, wolves, and coyotes the born killers of the forest, 

 some of which kill for the mere love of killing, the same motive that 

 seems to animate mankind except that the predatory animals do need 

 to kill for food. These animals are seldom seen, with the exception of 

 the "dogs," as the rangers call the coyotes. All are hunted by the 

 rangers, not with the purpose of extinction, for each belongs in the 

 wild-life picture of the parks, but for the purpose of curtailing their 

 numbers so that they will not exterminate other species, such as the 

 deer or the antelope. In fact, in recent years few mountain lions have 

 been killed in any of the parks. The mountain lion raises cubs but once 

 every two years, and therefore does not increase rapidly. Unless a par 

 ticularly ruthless killer becomes a menace, the lion is allowed to live. 

 The same is true of the bobcats, lynxes, and wolves. The coyote is a 

 prolific breeder on the other hand, raising a litter of puppies each year. 

 Hence the coyote is hunted down quite ruthlessly. The purpose of the 

 rangers is to preserve the natural status quo between animals as nearly 

 as possible under the peculiar circumstances by which so many species 

 have been crowded by civilization into comparatively small areas. 



The Dude or the Sagebrusher with a hankering for a hobby that is 

 different will find unique opportunities in the study of the animals and 

 birds of the parks. Living with the denizens of the woods as neighbors, 

 he will find them cheerful, resourceful, and enthusiastic. They make 

 the most of their respective situations. He will marvel at their energy, 

 their persistence. He will wonder at the ingenuity of the steam-heated 

 birds' nests of the Yellowstone geyser basins. He will tremble at the 

 isolation of the osprey's nest atop tall pinnacles in the Canyon. He will 

 laugh at the story of the male osprey whose mate makes him sit on the 

 nest at night so that she can know where he is. The audacity of the 

 grouse family that held up a presidential party while the chicks crossed 

 the road, the lightning quickness of the osprey as it dives into the rapids, 

 returning over the tree tops with a struggling fish in its talons, the 

 genius of the otters who live in winter in warm-water pools just a few 

 feet from icy trout streams, the muskrats that enjoy salad in the winter 

 time because the warm streams they inhabit keep the grass and plants 

 growing during freezing weather all these and many more true tales 

 of wild life serve to make up the saga of the great game preserves, the 



