Wilderness Reserves 



of the bands were above the snow line some ap- 

 pearing away back toward the ridge crests, and 

 looking as small as mice. There was one band 

 well below the snow line, and toward this we rode. 

 While the elk were not shy or wary, in the sense 

 that a hunter would use the words, they were by 

 no means as familiar as the deer; and this particu- 

 lar band of elk, some twenty or thirty in all, 

 watched us with interest as we approached. When 

 we were still half a mile off they suddenly started 

 to run toward us, evidently frightened by some- 

 thing. They ran quartering, and when about four 

 hundred yards away we saw that an eagle was 

 after them. Soon it swooped, and a yearling in the 

 rear, weakly, and probably frightened by the 

 swoop, turned a complete somersault, and when it 

 recovered its feet, stood still. The great bird fol- 

 lowed the rest of the band across a little ridge, be- 

 yond which they disappeared. Then it returned, 

 soaring high in the heavens, and after two or three 

 wide circles, swooped down at the solitary year- 

 ling, its legs hanging down. We halted at two 

 hundred yards to see the end. But the eagle could 

 not quite make up its mind to attack. Twice it 

 hovered within a foot or two of the yearling's 

 head again flew off and again returned. Finally 

 the yearling trotted off after the rest of the band, 



37 



