MOUNTAIN SPORTS. 295 



wild wormwood ; and its flesh is said to be rendered so bitter 

 by the food, as to be uneatable by hungry men. The .Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse, of all the five varieties, is that which approaches 

 the most nearly to the abodes of civilized men, being killed on 

 the Missouri, as far south as 41^^ north latitude. It is a beauti- 

 ful and delicious bird. Mr. Bell, the deservedly celebrated 

 naturalist and taxidermist of New York, to whom I take this 

 opportunity of offering my thanks for assistance in this work, by 

 the loan of some beautiful specimens of birds, which to desij^n, 

 informs me that he has shot them in such numbers as to consti- 

 tute good sport. 



For the present, however, so little is known of the habits of 

 the game of these wild, remote, and uncivilized regions, and so 

 very few are the sportsmen, in the true sense of the word, who 

 visit them, that I deem it enough to indicate their existence and 

 whereabout, leaving it to a future edition, if necessary, after 

 American aits and civilization shall have followed the march of 

 American arms, to deal more at large with the game of the 

 lately conquered territories. I believe all the game, in the pro- 

 per sense of the term, which they do contain, from the extreme 

 northern to the utmost southern limit, has been named. It will 

 be time to speak of the how, the when, and the where to shoot 

 them, when there shall be the who to do so on the ground. 



In the meantime, the letters and anecdotes collected by those 

 gallant explorers of the remotest districts, and dwellers on the 

 outmost frontiers of the United States, the officers I mean of 

 the American army, will rapidly and surely add to our know- 

 ledge on these points. 



For to their credit, and to the honor of "West Point, be it 

 spoken, that nine-tenths of all the correct information we pos- 

 sess, of the geography, geology, topography, and natural his- 

 tory of the farther Territories and Districts, apart from mere 

 verbiage and fable, come from the members of the one, and 

 the graduates of the other. 



A large command, I observe, has lately received the route for 

 California ; and when once they shall have got warm in their 



