RECREA TION. 



263 



Grouse are very fond of the mountain huckle- 

 berry, and patches of these are likely places in 

 which to find them. They also feed on sarvis 

 and hawthorn berries, the seeds of the wild rose, 

 and the buds and leaves of different trees. In 

 the crops during the summer and early fall, are 

 also found the macerated remains of grasshoppers, 

 moths, worms and various kinds of beetles. As 

 winter approaches, food becomes scarce, and the 

 ground is covered with snow, they repair to the 

 friendly, tall firs, on whose buds and leaves they 

 feed during the long dreary winter. 



NEST AND EGCxS OF THE DUSKY GROUSE. 



shot, and being tired and hungry, they concluded 

 to return home. 



Roy's friend was some distance in advance, 

 and Roy, coming to a convenient log, sat down 

 to rest. He had been there but a few minutes 

 when he heard a noise just above him, on the 

 mountain side, which he took to be snow 

 falling from the trees. Turning to look, how- 

 ever, he saw a big black bear and two half 

 grown cubs, coming toward him, evidently not 

 having discovered him. 



Roy raised his rifle and fired at the mother 

 bear, who ran about 50 yards down the mountain 

 side and fell over a log dead. His second shot 

 brought down cub number one, and his third 

 broke both fore legs of cub number two. The 

 other boy now arrived on the scene and finished 

 cub number two with a shot behind the shoulder. 

 The ball had hit the old bear just below the right 

 eye and cub number one had his neck broken. 



This cut shows the old bear after having been 

 mounted. It is unfortunate that she could not 

 have been placed in the hands of a good taxider- 

 mist. The skins from the cubs were sold. 



Roy's rifle is a 44 Marlin and was given him 

 by his father. Writing of this marvelous young 

 hunter, Mr. A. J. Stone, of Missoula, says : 

 "He has handled a rifle ever since he was seven 

 years old, and has killed a great deal of game. 

 He is also a good w r ing shot, and with a 16- 

 gauge gun often brings in a good bag of blue 

 grouse. He is quiet and unpretentious, manly and 

 self possessed. He does not appear to be at all 



The pitiless storms beat about them and the 

 piercing cold surrounds ; but close to the trunk 

 of the rugged tree, and beneath its thick green 

 •canopy of drooping limbs, this brave bird awaits 

 the melting winds of spring to lay bare the south 

 hill sides, and to awaken the joyous, rushing 

 water courses, when he ventures out in quest of a 

 change of diet. His heart has not failed him, 

 and although for months his home has been the 

 dark, cheerless, sombre shades of weeping fits he 

 has been content. He had faith in the changing 

 seasons. Spring has come at last, and now the 

 mountain side echoes the low hooting of the male 

 as he sits lengthwise on a limb cheering the heart 

 of his industrious mate who is in search of a suit- 

 able place to build her nest and rear her young. 



CLEVER BOY SHOOTERS. 



IV. 



Roy Tippetts. 



This little, brown-eyed lad lives with his parents 

 in the somewhat picturesque lumbering town of 

 Bonner, Mont., at the mouth of Big Blackfoot 

 canyon, just above where the Blackfoot river 

 empties into the Missoula river. 



The place is almost surrounded by high and 

 rugged mountains, which are covered with spruce 

 and tamarack. Bears, mountain lions and deer 

 are plentiful, and, although Roy is but 13 years 

 old, he often takes his rifle and penetrates this 

 mountain wilderness for miles, alone. 



In September last, just after the first fall of 

 snow, Roy and a boy friend started up the 

 mountain, early one morning, for a hunt. Game 

 was scarce that day, and having traveled the 

 greater portion of the forenoon without getting a 



ROY TIPPETS AM' ONE <>K HIS PRIZES. 



elated with his success in hunting. He is not 

 selfish and is always ready to divide honors with 

 his boy friends. He is loved by all neighbors 

 and we feel he richly deserves a place in Ki 

 ation's corps of "clever boy shooters. ' 



