294 FRAxNK forester's field sports. 



nect them with my general hints on this subject ; since, as they 

 rehite to this, more particularly than other kind of game, being 

 more necessary among hills, they are here the most suitable. 



The first is, if possible, to stalk the Mountain Goat, having 

 the sun on your back, and in his eyes ; the other is to approach 

 him, again if possible, from the upper to the lower ground ; I 

 say, in both cases, if possible — for all depends on the direction 

 of the wind, down which it is impossible, under any circum- 

 stances, to approach Deer or Goats. 



Both these animals have the habit, so far as they can, of al- 

 v/ays keeping the upper ground ; and, consequently, it is their 

 nature to keep the brightest look-out for an enemy's approaches 

 from below. They rarely, in comparison, look upward. 



Wild-fowl, on the contrary, and birds of all kinds, expecting 

 all attacks from above, are most easily approached from below, 

 upward. 



Cloudy weather, with a light, steady wind from one quarter, 

 with occasional glimpses of sunshine, is very favorable for stalk- 

 ing. High and changeable winds are very bad, as they render 

 the herds wild, and make it more difficult to approach from the 

 leeward. Mist is the worst of all, as animals of all kind, whether 

 Fowl or Quadrupeds, with the solitary exception of the Brant 

 Goose, which is most readily overhauled in a thick fog, can 

 generally discover you before you have a suspicion of their 

 whereabouts. 



Of the Mountain Goat I have no more to say, nor much more 

 of the Mountain Sports at all. Five species of Grouse, — the 

 Great Cock of the Plains, Tetrao JJr opium anus ; the Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse, Tetrao Phasiancllus ; the Dusky Grouse, Tetrao 

 Ohsciinis ; the Rock Ptarmigan, Tetrao Rupestris ; and the 

 White-tailed Ptarmigan, Tetrao Lcucurus — are natives, more or 

 less abundant, of the Rocky Mountains — some dwelling on the 

 highest and most difficult peaks, some in the higher valleys, and 

 some — as the Cock of the Plains, and the Sharp-tailed Grouse — • 

 on the great plains at their base. The first of the two latter is 

 found only on those plains which produce the aitemisia, ot- 



