884 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



shot for their benefit, but as the country was uninhabited, the 

 shooting of those splendid wapiti was simply destruction. I could 

 only restrict myself to a study of natural history, occasionally 

 taking shots whenever the temptation was too strong. 



In riding daily throughout the country, I was much impressed 

 with the small number of cast horns which we discovered. 

 Although they were scattered in considerable profusion, they were 

 nothing compared with the rubbing marks upon the trunks of the 

 spruce firs. Thousands of them were bare to the wood, over a 

 surface of 4 or 5 feet; from the appearance, these were annual 

 rubbing-posts, but all had been freshly rubbed during the last 

 season. We seldom found a pair of antlers, generally only one ; 

 and the fellow was nowhere in the neighbourhood. This paucity 

 of antlers denoted that the deer were not in this country in large 

 numbers during the early spring when the horns are shed. I can 

 imagine that the bitter cold of winter to the end of February 

 would drive every living creature to the lower ground ; but where 

 the horns are shed, I cannot explain. As the deer are migrating, 

 it is possible that they travel to certain localities periodically, 

 either for the annual shedding, or for the reproduction of their 

 horns. 



Upon two occasions only I came upon really large herds. I 

 had been out all morning, but had only seen bison and black-tail 

 deer. We were riding along the gentle incline of a glen, through 

 which a rapid but shallow stream was flowing; there was an 

 object in the distance, that resembled the charred stump of a 

 dead tree, within 50 yards of the right bank of the streamlet. 

 The binoculars determined that this was a female wapiti. 



She was standing in a narrow portion of the glen, not far from 

 a cliff of bluff rocks 80 or 100 feet high ; upon the opposite side, 

 the hills rose to several hundred feet in a steep grass slope. The 

 hind was about 1200 yards distant. We accordingly dismounted, 

 and leaving our horses, I suggested that we should approach in 

 the hollow upon the bank of the stream until within about 200 

 paces ; my hunter would then stop, and I would continue along 

 the bed, in order to gain a position exactly opposite the spot where 

 the deer was standing. I felt perfectly certain that a stag, or 

 perhaps more, would be lying down, as, though invisible, they 

 would not be far off. 



We accordingly commenced the stalk. We had not proceeded 

 far, when the hind was joined by a large stag, which must have 

 been lying down close to her, unperceived by us. Although the 

 antlers were not bad, there was nothing particular in their size. 



