THE HAYMAKER OF THE HEIGHTS 17 
long and in appearance much like a guinea pig; 
but with regulation rabbit ears he might have 
passed for a young rabbit. His big round ears 
were trimmed short. 
Rarely do I name a wild animal—it does not 
occur to me to do so. But as he was the first 
cony I had seen, and seeing him on top of 
Long’s Peak, I called him almost unconsciously, 
“Rocky.” 
Rocky raised his nose and head, braced him- 
self as though to jump, and delivered a shrill 
“ Ke-ack.” He waited a few seconds, then 
another “Skee-ek.” I moved a step toward 
him and he started off the top. 
That winter I climbed up to look for a num- 
ber of objects and wondered concerning the 
cony. I supposed he spent the summer on the 
mountain tops and wintered in the lowlands. 
But someone told me that he hibernated. At 
twelve thousand feet I heard a “Skee-ek” and 
then another. An hour later I saw conies sit- 
ting, running over the rocks, and shouting all 
around me—more like recess time at school 
than hibernating sleep. 
One of these conies was calling from a sky- 
line rock thirteen thousand feet above the sea. 
I walked toward him, wondering how near he 
would let me come. He kept up his “Skee-ek- 
ing” at intervals, apparently without noticing 
v 
