PREFACE. 



DURING the noonday heats when nature is asleep, 

 often even when " beasts" are in sight but un- 

 approachable, the hunter of mountain big-game 

 has time on his hands to kill somehow or other. 

 The following sketches, originally pencil-scribbled 

 in a note -book, are the result of some of such 

 hours during a period of eight years' service in 

 the regions they describe, in the course of which 

 practically all my leisure moments were devoted 

 to shooting in one form or another. 



At the risk of my narratives appearing "bald 

 and unconvincing," I have refrained from any 

 attempt to embellish them by the addition of a 

 word of fiction. 



Most of these sketches have previously appeared 

 in periodicals, and my acknowledgments are due 



