186 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
cottontail rabbits, one of which had fallen to our 
united fusillade. Smith’s ranch, where we passed 
the night, was the best group of log buildings I 
had ever seen; it gave me pleasure to look at such 
a prosperous place. 
On the morning of October 9 we were up early 
and looking for sage hens in a lucern field belong- 
ing to Smith. One small flock was put up by C. 
who secured an old cock out of it with his rifle. 
The sage hen (C. wrophasianus) is the largest 
American grouse. The young birds are delicious 
before they begin to feed upon the sage, but the 
old cocks are not good. We expected to be in Piney 
by night, so again scattered over the country in 
the hope of seeing something. Almost at once, 
after leaving the ranch, a coyote was marked; he 
sat watching us and was about two hundred and 
fifty yards away. We all fired at him and he was 
almost hit. Until we reached a halfway house for 
lunch, there was no further excitement and we did 
not see anything until we passed the first of the 
Piney creeks. There I managed to bag a prairie 
chicken (P. P. columbianis) and with this marched 
proudly into the settlement. Big Piney has one © 
house, one store, and a post office. There is a 
schoolhouse near, and a few ranches scattered 
about. The country is flat, fertile, and well wa- 
tered by these Piney creeks. We put up at Budds’ 
house and heard stories of hunting from the cow- 
boys who were congregated there. While we sat — 
in front of the post office, two cowboys approached 
at a gallop; they halted, throwing their bridles and 
