182 GAME. 



sion that I bagged thirty-one. The constant presence of 

 men, horses, and dogs had no effect to frighten away the 

 deer, and one or more were bagged early each morning, 

 sometimes within a few hundred yards of camp. About 

 a month after, wishing to show special attention to a 

 favoured guest, I took him to the same place. There 

 was a slight fall of snow on the ground, and, as we came 

 within a couple of miles of the spring, I noticed trails 

 of deer, which became more frequent as we neared the 

 spring. All the trails indicated that the deer were at 

 full speed, bounding as if badly frightened away from the 

 neighbourhood. My curiosity being excited, I followed 

 some of these trails, and discovered that the deer had en- 

 tirely left the system of canons which I came to hunt, had 

 crossed a portion of the second plain, and taken refuge in 

 the almost inaccessible rocks and ravines of the 'Mesa 

 de Maio/ at least fifteen miles away. As far as I followed 

 these trails, they showed that the deer never stopped or 

 even flagged. This, and their taking to the open plain, 

 indicated their action to be based on terrible fright, or 

 other equally strong motive. Returning to the spring, 

 we encountered a herd of sheep which were being driven 

 across country through these canons. We went into 

 camp, and next day commenced hunting in earnest, but 

 with such poor success that after some days we moved to 

 another locality, through which the sheep had not passed. 

 This experience has been repeated so often, that I am 

 perfectly confident in the assertion that black-tails will 

 not live in the same neighbourhood with sheep. I have 

 seen a few apparent exceptions, as Cariso Creek, the 

 valley of which is a favourite sheep-range, while on the 

 tops of its adjacent mountains black-tails are to be found. 

 In every such case, however, it will be found that the 

 sheep never go up the mountain, nor the deer down into 

 the valley, and that the deer is separated from his anti- 

 pathy by 1,500 to 2,500 feet of altitude. 



The black-tail has wonderful strength and vitality, 



