14 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



or three times one of them gave us an hour's sharp trot- 

 ting, cantering, and galloping through the open cedar 

 and pinyon groves on the table-lands ; and the runs some- 

 times lasted for a much longer period when the dogs had 

 to go across ledges and through deep ravines. 



On one of our runs a party of ravens fluttered along 

 from tree to tree beside us, making queer gurgling noises 

 and evidently aware that they might expect to reap a 

 reward from our hunting. Ravens, multitudes of mag- 

 pies, and golden and bald eagles were seen continually, 

 and all four flocked to any carcass which was left in the 

 open. The eagle and the raven are true birds of the 

 wilderness, and in a way their presence both height- 

 ened and relieved the iron desolation of the wintry 

 mountains. 



Over half the cats we started escaped, getting into 

 caves or deep holes in washouts. In the other instances 

 they went up trees and were of course easily shot. Tony 

 and Baldy would bring them out of any hole into which 

 they themselves could get. After their loss, Lil, who was 

 a small hound, once went into a hole in a washout after 

 a cat. After awhile she stopped barking, though we 

 could still hear the cat growling. What had happened 

 to her we did not know. We spent a couple of hours 

 calling to her and trying to get her to come out, but she 

 neither came out nor answered, and, as sunset was ap- 

 proaching and the ranch was some miles off, we rode 

 back there, intending to return with spades in the morn- 

 ing. However, by breakfast we found that Lil had come 

 back. We supposed that she had got on the other side 



