OF A RANCHMAN 189 



white-tail makes off at a great rate, at a 

 rolling gallop, the long, broad tail, pure 



e, held up in the air. In the dark or in 

 thick woods, often all that can be seen is 

 the flash of white from the tail. The head 

 is carried low and well forward in running; 

 a buck, when passing swiftly through thick 

 underbrush, usually throws his horns back 

 almost on his shoulders, with his nose held 

 straight in front. White-tail venison is, in 

 season, most delicious eating, only inferior 

 to the mutton of the mountain sheep. 



Among the places which are most cer- 

 tain to contain white-tails may be mentioned 

 the tracts of swampy ground covered with 

 willows and the like, which are to be found 

 in a few (and but a few) localities through 

 the plains country ; there are, for example, 

 several such along the Powder River, just 

 below where the Little Powder empties into 



Here there is a dense growth of slim- 

 stemmed young trees, sometimes almost im- 

 penetrable, and in other places opening out 

 into what seem like arched passage-ways, 



