1 6 Wilderness Ways. 



into the bare branches of a withered shrub, so as to 

 make them inconspicuous, and stand watching me. 

 As long as he was quiet, it was impossible to see him 

 there ; but I could always make him start nervously 

 by flashing a looking-glass, or flopping a fish in the 

 water, or whistling a jolly Irish jig. Aiid when I tied 

 a bright tomato can to a string and set it whirling 

 round my head, or set my handkerchief for a flag on 

 the end of my trout rod, then he could not stand it 

 another minute, but came running down to the shore, 

 to stamp, and fidget, and stare nervously, and scare 

 himself with twenty alarms while trying to make up 

 his mind to swim out and satisfy his burning desire 

 to know all about it. But I am forgetting the caribou 

 schools. 



Wherever there are barrens — treeless plains in 

 the midst of dense forest — the caribou collect in 

 small herds as winter comes on, following the old 

 gregarious instinct. Then each one cannot do as 

 he pleases any more ; and it is for this winter and 

 spring life together, when laws must be known, and 

 the rights of the individual be laid aside for the good 

 of the herd, that the young are trained. 



One afternoon in late summer I was drifting down 

 the Toledi River, casting for trout, when a movement 

 in the bushes ahead caught my attention. A great 



