160 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



knowing that he does not see him, or he may slip 

 quietly out of it and, with head and tail both down 

 low, vanish down some little ravine like a snake glid- 

 ing over velvet. 



A deer, too, on this kind of ground can see a man 

 almost as far as an antelope can, and often nearly as 

 quickly. And he can here distinguish a man at rest 

 or motionless much quicker than he can in the woods. 

 Hence caution in showing your head over a ridge be- 

 comes even more important than it does in the woods. 



Some of the advantages that the hunter here has 

 over a deer are very great. Aided by a glass, or even 

 by his naked eye if he takes proper care and hunts 

 when the game is on foot, he can discover a deer be- 

 fore it sees him at a distance so great that there is 

 little danger of immediately alarming it. He can 

 then decide what are his prospects for getting closer, 

 and settle upon the best modes of approach. He can 

 tell what the game is doing, how long it will be likely 

 to remain where it is, which way it will be likely to 

 go, and about where to find it if it shall have moved 

 while he is approaching it. He can calculate its dis- 

 tance better, get a better opportunity for a good rest 

 for a long shot, have a better prospect for several 

 shots, and can see more of the missing balls strike 

 ground, and by their aid correct his errors of eleva- 

 tion, etc. He has also a much better opportunity to 

 head off game that has been started, or get a shot 

 at it by a sudden dash, and to put himself in the path 

 of game that he sees moving anywhere toward him. 

 His prospects, too, for following up game that has 

 been started are often so good that it often rewards 

 his pains, where in the woods certain failure would 

 be the result. But the great advantage, especially 



