ROCKIES IN SEPTEMBER 135 



delusion as far as my powers of imitation would avail ; 

 and as I bleated the little fellow trotted alongside, till a 

 pulT of wind suddenly hinted to him of danger, when 

 away he bounded into the forest. 



At another time a brace of fawns perceived our coming, 

 though their mother was comfortably reclining in the cool 

 shade. In a moment, one from one side, another from 

 the other, dashed down upon the old doe, butted her 

 vigorously in the ribs, and, whether she liked it or not, 

 drove her off to the nearest thicket. Before entering 

 covert she stopped, and looked round with an air of 

 wonderment most comical ; then, flinging her tail in the 

 air, went off with great jumps, with her offspring leaping 

 on either side. Such little incidents of animal life in the 

 wild forest have for many of us almost as pleasing an 

 interest as the more vigorous moments of sport. 



I could wish there were more birds in the upland 

 forests of Western America. Beyond the grouse, many 

 hawks, an occasional eagle, or a stray jay, very few^ are to 

 be met with. The air never resounds to song, and the 

 foliage is never brightened by feathered life. A single lively 

 exception on the latter head is found in the quaint and 

 ubiquitous " camp follower," a sort of colossal tomtit in 

 his ways and habits. Soft grey in colour, in size about 

 equal to a thrush, the " camp follower " makes himself at 

 home directly packs are off and the fire is lit. From that 

 moment it is /lis camp ; he will peck his meals from the 

 hanging meat, or even satisfy hunger from a bone held 

 out to him by hand. 



Our object in to-day's ride was to reach the summit 

 of Nightcap Mountain, whose clusters of dark pine loomed 

 like a belt beneath the snow^ that still whitened its crest. 

 Chmbing upwards and upwards from the intervening 

 valley, the pines were at last reached, and there, as we 

 had expected, a cool and bubbling stream, beside which 

 we could spend the midday hour, an hour of which a 

 frugal meal was the foundation ; the remainder a feast of 

 scenery, a dream of contentment, a lazy appreciation of 

 existence in such surrounding. 



Our saddle-horses cropped the grass while we lingered 



