204 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



it trots or gallops, is entirely unique. In trotting, the head 

 and tail are both held erect, and the animal throws out 

 its legs with a singularly proud and free motion, bringing 

 the feet well up, while at every step there is an inde- 

 scribable spring. In the canter or gallop the head and 

 tail are also held erect, the flashing white brush being 

 very conspicuous. Three or four low, long, marvellously 

 springy bounds are taken, and then a great leap is made 

 high in the air, which is succeeded by three or four low 

 bounds, and then by another high leap. A whitetail 

 going through the brush in this manner is a singularly 

 beautiful sight. It has been my experience that they are 

 not usually very much frightened by an ordinary slow 

 trackhound, and I have seen a buck play along in front 

 of one, alternately trotting and cantering, head and flag 

 up, and evidently feeling very little fear. 



To my mind the chase of the whitetail, as it must 

 usually be carried on, offers less attraction than the chase 

 of any other kind of our large game. But this is a 

 mere matter of taste, and such men as Judge Caton and 

 Mr. George Bird Grinnell have placed it above all others 

 as a game animal. Personally I feel that the chase of any 

 animal has in it two chief elements of attraction. The 

 first is the chance given to be in the wilderness; to see 

 the sights and hear the sounds of wild nature. The sec- 

 ond is the demand made by the particular kind of chase 

 upon the qualities of manliness and hardihood. As re- 

 gards the first, some kinds of game, of course, lead the 

 hunter into particularly remote and wild localities; and 

 the farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the 



