104 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
whites along the Colorado, and they use the crests for 
a variety of purposes that they consider ornamental. 
I saw a squaw once who had at least a hundred of them 
strung on a piece of rope-yarn for a necklace. But the 
birds have other foes : the larger hawks prey upon them, 
so also do the wolves, as I had good evidence upon one 
occasion, when hunting in a precipitous, rocky place 
near Fort Whipple. I heard a covey whispering about 
me as they started to run off in the weeds, and fol- 
lowed them up to get a shot. They passed around a 
huge boulder that projected from the hillside, and then, 
to my surprise, suddenly scattered on wing in every 
direction, some flying almost in my face. At the same 
instant a wolf leaped up from the grass where he had 
been hiding, a few feet off, intending to waylay the 
covey, and looking very much disappointed, not to say 
disgusted, at the sudden flight. We had marked the 
covey together, and were hunting it up from opposite 
sides, and neither of us could account for their flushing 
so unexpectedly. Then he caught sight of me, and it 
was a question which of us was most surprised. How- 
ever, I felt that I owed him a private grudge for get- 
ting in the way of the birds and spoiling my shot, so 
I fired both barrels in quick succession. With nothing 
but mustard seed in my gun, I hardly expected to more 
than frighten the beast, but he was so near that he 
rolled over quite handsomely, his hindquarters para- 
lyzed with the charge, which took effect in the small 
of the back. I kept his skin as a trophy, and since that 
time have had unlimited confidence in small shot.” 
