WINTER WAYS OF ANIMALS 169 



One day late in February I visited the yard. 

 The elk plainly had lost weight but were not in 

 bad condition. While I lingered near the entire 

 herd joined merrily in chase and tag, often 

 racing then wheeling to rear high and fence with 

 heads. If I counted correctly this herd went 

 through the entire winter without the loss of an 

 elk. 



But the caribou appears to be the only animal 

 which migrates between summer and winter 

 ranges, that is, which makes a long journey of 

 hundreds of miles; as much change of place as 

 made by many species of migrating birds. The 

 main cause for this migration is the food supply, 

 but myriads of mosquitoes in the woods may be 

 one cause of the moose moving each summer far 

 into the north where there are grassy prairies 

 and large openings in the woods. But for 

 winter they seek food and shelter in a yard in 

 the forest. 



While snowshoeing in the forested mountains 

 to the southeast of Long's Peak I came upon 

 a mountain lion track startlingly fresh. I fol- 

 lowed it to a den beneath a rock pile at the bot- 

 tom of a cliff. Evidently the lion was in. 

 Seeing older tracks which he had made on leaving 

 the den, I trailed these. After zigzagging 

 through the woods he had set off in a bee-line 

 for the top of a cliff. From this point he evi- 



