Caribou - Hunting. 221 



"Gone away somewhere 'bout daylight," he replied; "try find 

 'im sign caribou, may be." 



At noon, Tomah marched into camp, bringing with him, to my 

 horror, the head and skin of the caribou slain the previous day. 



. " Who kill 'im this caribou ? Only one ball-hole in skin ! " he 

 said, defiantly, and in his deepest bass, as he deposited his spoils on 

 the snow. 



" I fire right on his head," said Sebatis, springing to his feet. 



"Well, you miss him, sartin. Bullet strike 'im on ribs jus' where 

 I fire," rejoined Tomah. 



" Sartin, you tell 'im big lie. I don't miss 'im 't all," returned 

 Sebatis, fiercely, as he unrolled the skin to examine for himself. His 

 search disclosed but one bullet-hole, and that was on the side, just as 

 Tomah stated. 



After carefully examining the skin, I turned my attention to the 

 head, and was about to give up in despair when I observed that one 

 of the tines had been completely carried away close to the main 

 stem. 



" Here's where your ball struck," I said to Sebatis, pointing out 

 the recent fracture on the horn. 



"Sartin, that's true," said Sebatis. " I know I didn't miss 'im 

 't all." 



" Always Sebatis come out pretty well. S'pose nobody else fire, 

 sartin no caribou-steak breakfast this mornin'," growled Tomah. 



In the afternoon, the sun shone out bright and warm, and our 

 pert little friends, the birds, shyly renewed our acquaintance. The 

 tameness of these forest birds is ever a source of delight to me. It 

 is quite common to see cross-bills, pine-finches, chickadees, and red- 

 polls all picking up crumbs together at one's feet ; and often after a 

 few days' acquaintance they become so familiar that they will accept 

 food from the hand, — bread-crumbs, bits of raw meat; and even salt 

 pork is readily accepted. In fact, nothing seems to come amiss to 

 the little beauties, and they evidently enjoy the change from the dry 

 cones and buds which form the staple of their winter diet. 



It seems ungrateful to single out any one bird where all are so 

 tame, but I think that I must give the palm in this respect to my 

 favorite — little black-cap. The naturalists give this little bird a 

 dreadful character, and say of him that he smashes in the skulls of 



