86 Wilderness Ways. 



A most convenient arrangement that ; and also a per- 

 fectly unbiased opinion on a much debated subject. 



Chigwooltz, unlike many of my pets, was not in the 

 least dependent on my bounty. Indeed, he was a 

 remarkable hunter on his own account, and what he 

 took from me he took as hospitality, not charity. 

 One morning he came to me with the tail of a small 

 trout sticking out of his mouth. The rest of the fish 

 was below, being digested. Another day, towards 

 twilight, I saw him resting on the lily pads, looking 

 very full, with a suspicious-looking object curling out 

 over his under lip. I wiggled my finger in the water, 

 and he came from pure sociability, for he was beyond 

 eating any more. The suspicious-looking object proved 

 to be a bird's foot, and beside it was a pointed wing 

 tip. That was too much for my curiosity. I opened 

 his mouth and pulled out the bird with some diffi- 

 culty, for Chigwooltz had been engaged some time in 

 the act of swallowing his game and had it well down. 

 It proved to be a full-grown male swallow, without 

 a mark anywhere to show how he had come by his 

 death. Chigwooltz looked at me reproachfully, but 

 swallowed his game promptly the moment I had 

 finished examining it. 



There was small doubt in my mind that he had 

 caught his bird fairly, by a quick spring as the swallow 



