160 GAME. 



does in the vicinity, and the c running ' season was over. 

 It is presumable, therefore, that these ' gentlemen ' elk, 

 having some private quarrel, had retired to this seques- 

 tered spot to settle their personal difficulty in accordance 

 with the rules of honour. 



From September to the next May or June the elk are 

 in herds of generally from five to seventy-five animals, 

 although I have seen a herd which I verily believe 

 contained more than 500 head. This was, however, in the 

 days of good hunting, before the Union Pacific Eailroad 

 had rendered the haunts accessible to all the world. 



When feeding unmolested the habits of the elk are 

 almost identical with those of domestic cattle, except that 

 they generally feed in one direction, and pass much more 

 quickly over the ground. 



Elk are very great travellers, passing over great 

 distances. A herd found feeding in one spot in the 

 afternoon may be twenty miles away the next morning. 

 They travel mostly at night, and rarely spend even forty- 

 eight hours in the same vicinity. 



When travelling unmolested they always walk in 

 single file, or one after the other, no matter how many 

 there may be. In this way a herd strings out to a great 

 distance, and makes a marked trail very easily followed. 



When disturbed, either while feeding or travelling, 

 they run together for an instant like a flock of sheep, and 

 huddle up in a close clump, their long necks stretched 

 out, and their eyes staring with a scared, helpless look. 

 Soon an individual starts off, all the others following, not 

 now in single file, but in a widening wedge, the leader 

 being the point. 



If the leader is knocked down by a bullet all stop 

 and huddle again, seeming to hold a silent consultation. 

 After a moment another leader starts, and all follow. 

 Should the hunter get very near before disturbing the 

 herd by a shot, this peculiarity of always having to stop, 

 seemingly to select a leader, gives him, if a good marks- 



