WILD ANIMALS AND BIRDS IN THE NORTHWEST. 275 
and though he would let me put my hand 
within 6 inches of him, he would slip out 
just in time to prevent my getting hold of 
him. I had some crackers in my pocket 
and offered him some crumbs from them, 
but he did not seem to care for them. He 
occasionally picked up a bug as we went 
along, but had no taste for manufactured 
food. On another part of the trip one of 
these birds joined us and followed us over 
an hour. At the end of that time we made 
camp, and he visited with us and the 
horses all the afternoon. We hoped he 
would join us on the march again the next 
morning, but before we pulled out he 
quit us. 
Although we saw in the aggregate many 
interesting birds and animals, yet that 
country is a lonely one. Sometimes we 
would travel a whole day without seeing a 
living creature of any kind; yet the coun- 
A PHOTO OF 

MYSELF 
try is so thoroughly wild and so entirely 
uninhabited by human beings that it would 
seem wild creatures of all kinds should 
abound there. Game was plentiful there 
years ago, but the vandal, man, has well 
nigh cleaned it out. There are plenty of goats 
left, and in limited districts a good many 
sheep; but the Indians and the white trap- 
pers, who encourage the red men in their skin 
hunting and head hunting, have marked 
the doom of all big game in that country. 
Alberta has a law prohibiting white men 
from buying heads or skins of game ani- 
mals from the Indians; and if the Govern- 
ment would only enforce it there would be 
sheep, goats, caribou and bear in that coun- 
try a hundred years hence; but the Gov- 
ernment officers seem to feel no interest in 
the protection of these animals and allow 
certain traders to carry on their unlawful 
work openly, without even being warned. 
Ss 
AMATEUR PHOTO BY H. HM, FRASER, 
BY MYSELF. 
