156 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



Osgood's tireless energy had given me an insight 

 into the character and ability of the men Dr. Mer- 

 riam had gathered on the staff of the Biological Survey. 

 Not only was Osgood indefatigable in collecting birds 

 and mammals and hunting big game, but he also 

 worked until late hours in the night preparing his speci- 

 mens. 



Carl Rungius, a skilful hunter who has spent many 

 years hunting big game in the Rocky Mountains and 

 Canada, had used every opportunity to study his art. 

 He made numerous color sketches of the game country, 

 besides accurate drawings of the animals. He has since 

 produced many realistic paintings of moose, caribou, 

 bears, and sheep, revealing them in their true environ- 

 ment in Yukon Territory. The train sped on; I saw 

 Rungius and Osgood waving; we unloaded the horses, 

 threw on the packs, and started. 



The country through which we tramped was fairly 

 level, but barren, except for scattered clumps of pines 

 and many small lakes. There were many holes of the 

 ground-squirrel, tracks of rabbits, and not two miles 

 from the railroad some very old tracks of moose. In the 

 lakes, several species of ducks were abundant, and dur- 

 ing the fall migration one of the lakes provided excellent 

 shooting. I was interested to notice that the tops of 

 nearly all the stunted pines had been completely gnawed 

 off by rabbits, exactly like the willows along the bars of 

 the rivers. Eight miles distant from the railroad were 

 some cabins occupied by Bill Schnabel, his wife, and a 

 miner named Foley. There we unloaded, and Burwash 



