3 02 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



it within a few hundred yards of the same spot the next 

 day, and certainly not more than a mile or two off. There 

 were severe frosts at night, and occasionally light flurries 

 of snow; but the hardy beasts evidently cared nothing for 

 any but heavy storms, and seemed to prefer to lie in the 

 snow rather than upon the open ground. They fed at 

 irregular hours throughout the day, just like cattle; one 

 band might be lying down while another was feeding. 

 While travelling they usually went almost in single file. 

 Evidently the winter had weakened them, and they were 

 not in condition for running; for on the one or two occa- 

 sions when I wanted to see them close up I ran right into 

 them on horseback, both on level plains and going up 

 hill along the sides of rather steep mountains. One band 

 in particular I practically rounded up for John Bur- 

 roughs, finally getting them to stand in a huddle while 

 he and I sat on our horses less than fifty yards off. After 

 they had run a little distance they opened their mouths 

 wide and showed evident signs of distress. 



We came across a good many carcasses. Two, a bull 

 and a cow, had died from scab. Over half the remainder 

 had evidently perished from cold or starvation. The 

 others, including a bull, three cows and a score of year- 

 lings, had been killed by cougars. In the Park the cou- 

 gar is at present their only animal foe. The cougars 

 were preying on nothing but elk in the Yellowstone Val- 

 ley, and kept hanging about the neighborhood of the big 

 bands. Evidently they usually selected some outlying 

 yearling, stalked it as it lay or as it fed, and seized it 

 by the head and throat. The bull which they killed was 



