THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 91 
which were brought in fast enough to suit the most 
insatiable destroyer. I was so much interested in watch- 
ing, when I was not otherwise engaged, a party of Indians 
who were shooting field mice, ground squirrels, and sage 
hares, with arrows, that time fled heedlessly by. These 
red hunters brought the squirrels to the mouths of their 
burrows by chirping, and the moment they appeared the 
keen-headed arrow was sent twanging through their 
skulls or bodies, so that they could not retreat, even if 
they were only wounded, owing to the length of the 
shaft. Some of the braves were so expert with their rude 
weapons that they transfixed a terrified little field mouse 
on an arrow almost as readily as if it were a buffalo; and I 
saw a youth bring down a curlew with as much ease as if 
he had usedashot-gun. These hunting arrows differ from 
the war arrows in being narrower at the base and quite 
round, in order to enable persons to pull them out of the 
flesh quite easily; but the others are broad and square at the 
same point, so as to render it impossible to withdraw them 
without causing much pain, or making the wound larger. 
I reached the river about noon, and there halted, as I 
wished to watch the actions of some dusky anglers, who 
were pulling salmon trout out of the water. These splen- 
did specimens of the streams were caught in baskets which 
had large mouths and narrow ends, so that any fish en- 
tering them could not escape unless it backed out, and 
this it could not do, owing to the force of the current. 
As fast as a trout was caught it was knocked on the head 
with a short club, and thrown in a pile with others, un- 
less a squaw or achild took it away. While some were 
capturing fish in this manner, others were angling for 
them with the hook and line and the worms found on the 
wild sage, and catching them freely, too, as they seemed 
ready to rise to anything, from a “gentle” to a bit 
of red cloth. The boys were as busily engaged as the 
adults, but their favorite mode of fishing was with a 
