GAME LYING DOWN AMONG TREES. 131 



It is however much more difficult to carry out that 

 excellent maxim, that the hunter should see his game 

 before the game sees him, in forest hunting, than it 

 is in the open country; not merely because of the 

 cover which the undergrowth affords, but also because 

 during the greater part of the day, especially in hot 

 climates, forest animals make a practice of lying down 

 among brushwood, or other thick cover, generally in 

 such positions, that while hidden from view themselves, 

 they can keep a considerable portion of the adjacent 

 woods under observation, and most animals when they 

 lie down make it a regular rule to do so looking down 

 wind. All the more wary kinds of game are almost 

 certain to do this; they can then see the approach of 

 an enemy coming up wind, while they are instantly 

 warned of his presence by winding him should he pass 

 to windward. The smallest sound of crackling of dry 

 leaves, or the snapping of a rotten stick, made by the 

 hunter, is also sufficient to give them the alarm, in 

 which case as soon as they have satisfied themselves 

 as to the direction from which danger comes they glide 

 silently away, long before the incautious sportsman has 

 got near enough to catch sight of them. It is also a 

 common trick of moose, elk, bear, and other sagacious 

 creatures, to make a half circle to leeward of their 

 original trail before lying down, so that an enemy 

 following upon the track will necessarily pass near 

 where the wary beast is lying his presence is thus 

 at once detected by the wind, or by any slight noise 

 he may make, and while he follows up the trail his 

 quarry is with stealthy footsteps running off at a 

 tangent, rapidly giving a wide berth to the dangerous 

 locality. This clever stratagem of these wary creatures, 



