38 STALKS ABROAD 



one but a faint idea of the real sound, and I am at 

 a loss to find any adequate comparison. Whistling 

 through a coach-horn might come near the mark, 

 but I can think of nothing else. Our hesitation came 

 to a full stop, and, as the echo died away, we began 

 to follow a faint game trail which led down the hill- 

 side. A gap in the fir tops revealed the opposite 

 hill-slope, and there in the middle of a great grove of 

 quaking asp was a herd of wapiti. Lacking, as they 

 certainly did, the graceful action and thoroughbred 

 look of the red deer, it was yet a beautiful sight to 

 watch them. Quite unconscious of our presence, they 

 lay about the open glades, and basked in the sun. 

 Occasionally an old cow would rise, shake herself, and 

 then lying down again, present her other flank to its 

 welcome rays. 



Until the commencement of the rutting season 

 the cows stay about the flats and meadows with their 

 calves, and do not move up to the tops, where the 

 bulls usually remain. In September or so they begin 

 to get restless, and may be found anywhere in 

 thick timber or the open hillside, but are especially 

 fond of quaking asp thickets where the feed is good 

 and in whose shade they lie. Like all animals, 

 they sometimes disregard the presence of man en- 

 tirely, and I have ridden within five hundred 

 yards of a score or so without having them pay any 

 attention to me beyond raising their heads. 



They fight a good deal in September and October, 

 but their duels are rarely fatal. I heard of one hunter 



