146 Deer and Antelope of North America 



country generally, there was no well-defined migra- 

 tion. Up to the early eighties, when wapiti was 

 still plentiful, the bands wandered far and wide ; 

 but fitfully and irregularly, wholly without regard 

 to the season, save that they were stationary from 

 May to August. After 1883 there were but a few 

 individuals left, although as late as 1886 I once 

 c^me across a herd of nine. These surviving in- 

 dividuals had learned caution. The bulls only 

 called by night, and not very frequently then, and 

 they spent the entire year in the roughest and 

 most out-of-the-way places, having the same range 

 both winter and summer. They selected tracts 

 where the ground was very broken and there was 

 much shrubbery, and patches of small trees. This 

 tree and bush growth gave them both shelter and 

 food ; for they are particularly fond of browsing 

 on the leaves and tender twig ends, though they 

 also eat weeds and grass. 



Wherever wapiti dwell among the mountains 

 they make regular seasonal migrations. In north- 

 western Wyoming they spend the summer in the 

 Yellowstone National Park, but in winter they 

 go south to Jackson's Hole, and used formerly, 

 also, to move out of the park to the northeast. 

 In northwestern Colorado their migrations fol- 

 lowed much the same line as those of the mule- 

 deer. In different localities the length of the 

 migration and even the time differed. There 



