SPORT AND TRAVEL 299 



mule deer lying out in the snow for several days, we 

 caught nothing in the traps but two Clark's Crows, 

 and did not have any of the mule deer interfered with. 

 Not a single bear, wolverine, lynx, fox, or marten ever 

 came near any of the carcasses. As the insides had 

 been removed from all of them, and they all lay high 

 up in snow-covered ground, there was certainly no 

 smell about them, but the telltale snow showed clearly 

 enough that with the exception of " snow-shoe rabbits," 

 there were scarcely any other animals whatsoever in 

 the mountains to the east of the Yellowstone Park 

 but wapiti and mule deer, and there were none too 

 many of them. 



The " snow-shoe rabbit " of the hunters and pros- 

 pectors of the Rocky Mountains is, I believe, the 

 American polar hare (Lepus arcticus] of naturalists, 

 and in the State of Wyoming is only found at an alti- 

 tude of from seven thousand to twelve thousand feet, 

 and ascends even higher than the latter level, I believe, 

 during the summer. At that time of year they are 

 grey-brown ; but in October, by which time their entire 

 range is usually covered with snow, they become pure 

 white, with the exception of the tips of their ears, 

 which are always black. Their feet are covered with 

 long hair, which nearly covers the pads and grows 

 out to a considerable length on all sides, giving the 

 animals a curious appearance, which has earned for 

 them their local name, and which is an obvious pro- 

 vision of nature to enable them to travel easily in deep, 

 soft snow. 



