3n i%t IX&xstex ^noto* 



5 OR years I wondered how big game managed 

 to live through the hard winters. How did 

 they obtain food while the snows lay deep? 

 Two winters of snowshoeing through the Rocky 

 Mountains as Snow Observer often brought me 

 in contact with wild game. These wanderings, 

 together with numerous winter camping-excur- 

 sions through the woods in other scenes, gave 

 me many a glimpse of the winter manners and 

 customs of big wild folk. 



One autumn a heavy snow-storm caught me 

 in the mountains of Colorado without snow- 

 shoes. In getting out of this I found it easier to 

 wade down a shallow unfrozen stream than 

 to wallow through deep snow. Presently I came 

 upon a herd of deer who were also avoiding the 

 deep snow by using a water-way. They were 

 traveling along in the river and occasionally 

 paused to feed off the banks. Out all floundered 



259 



