344 SPOTTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



close, that every weapon was held near the shoulder. Bang 

 went a gun in the glades, and bang went another to my 

 right. These were followed by a joyous " hoopee," which 

 indicated that the Nimrods were successful. On arriving 

 on the ground, we found both animals dead, and their slay- 

 ers proudly gazing upon them. Congratulations of all 

 grades, from the cynical to the serio-comic and tragical, 

 were bestowed on them, and these they received as a mat- 

 ter of course, and in a modestly becoming manner. One 

 curious incident about the run was that both animals kept 

 together from the start, for nothing of the sort had ever 

 before come under the notice of our experienced guide. 

 The only way in which he could account for it was that 

 they were pressed so closely by the hounds, which were 

 famous for their fleetness, that their wits were scattered, 

 and they were therefore unable to employ their usual strat- 

 agems. They were, besides, rather young ; so that their 

 inexperience, as much as any other circumstance, was the 

 means of leading them to death. One fact in connection 

 with the running of the two species of deer, common in 

 Western Oregon and Washington Territory, is that the 

 black-tail heads for the hills and ravines the moment it is 

 started, and makes for the water only when all other strata- 

 gems have failed ; while the white-tail prefers to run on the 

 lowlands and in the forest, and resorts to a brook or river 

 as soon as it can get the opportunity. Hunters avail them- 

 selves of these characteristics, and act accordingly; and 

 so quick are they in detecting which species is started, that 

 the pack will not be in motion perhaps five minutes ere they 

 hie either to the hills or the stream. The white-tailed deer 

 also runs in a more direct line" than its congener, as if it 

 would outstrip the dogs by its fleetness; but the other 

 doubles like a hare, and chooses the most rocky and diffi- 

 cult ground, as if it knew that the scent would be lost more 

 readily in such places, and that its means of escape would 

 therefore be better. The former has also the greater speed, 

 but lacks the endurance of the black-tail, which is a splen- 

 did type of cervideau strength and power, and, in my opin- 



