104 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



whites along the Colorado, and they use the crests for 

 a variety of purposes that they consider ornamental. 

 I saw a squaw once who had at least a hundred of them 

 strung on a piece of rope-yarn for a necklace. But the 

 birds have other foes : the larger hawks prey upon them, 

 so also do the wolves, as I had good evidence upon one 

 occasion, when hunting in a precipitous, rocky place 

 near Fort Whipple. I heard a covey whispering about 

 me as they started to run off in the weeds, and fol- 

 lowed them up to get a shot. They passed around a 

 huge boulder that projected from the hillside, and then, 

 to my surprise, suddenly scattered on wing in every 

 direction, some flying almost in my face. At the same 

 instant a wolf leaped up from the grass where he had 

 been hiding, a few feet off, intending to waylay the 

 covey, and looking very much disappointed, not to say 

 disgusted, at the sudden flight. We had marked the 

 covey together, and were hunting it up from opposite 

 sides, and neither of us could account for their flushing 

 so unexpectedly. Then he caught sight of me, and it 

 was a question which of us was most surprised. How- 

 ever, I felt that I owed him a private grudge for get- 

 ting in the way of the birds and spoiling my shot, so 

 I fired both barrels in quick succession. With nothing 

 but mustard seed in my gun, I hardly expected to more 

 than frighten the beast, but he was so near that he 

 rolled over quite handsomely, his hindquarters para- 

 lyzed with the charge, which took effect in the small 

 of the back. I kept his skin as a trophy, and since that 

 time have had unlimited confidence in small shot." 



