May 14, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
88a 
and when the frosty autumn days approached he sallied 
out with his companions into the marshes to lay in a 
supply of ducks and geese for winter. The question of 
cold storage cut no figure, for the two or three hundred 
birds brought in were drawn and hung up in an old 
warehouse and the climate did the rest, enabling \xs to 
have roast duck or goose during the entire winter. 
Among the numerous berries growing wild on the tree- 
less hills of this coast, a kind of blueberry is very abun- 
dant in September, and tlie young ducks feed upon it 
DAIX'S MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 
until they become excessively fat and so delicately fla- 
vored that they are delicious morsels. We became tired 
of hung duck, however, before the winter ended, and 
when the first solitary goose came flying over in spring, 
on a reconnoitering trip, there was general rejoicing. 
I still remember the hearty zest with which we put an 
extra edge on our knives and attacked the pioneer old 
gander that fell to our guns. He was lean and tough 
after his long flight, but was thoroughly enjoyed as an 
earnest of the coming season of plenty. 
Two kinds of ptarmigan are common on the main- 
land, and will be considered dainty birds by many a 
hungry prospector, although to tell the truth they are 
about the poorest flavored of the American grouse. 
Their handsome summer plumage of mottled brown 
gives way in winter to one of snowy white. In winter, 
an the valley of the Kuskokwira, the ptarmigan called 
willow grouse gather in large flocks. During my sledge 
journeys I sometimes encountered flocks of hundreds 
among the patches of scrubby willows, and when flushed 
it seemed as if the snowy surface of the ground had sud- 
denly burst up and taken wing. 
When the first mossy knolls appear in spring the 
willow grouse begins to lose its snowy winter dress. At 
first a few brown feathers show above the base of the 
bill and gradually increase in number until the entire 
head becomes brown while the body is still white. This 
progressive change keeps pace with the melting snow, 
and with the disappearance of the last drifts the last 
white feather has been dropped and the bird is in full 
summer garb. The willow grouse begins its courtship 
in May, with the appearance of the first brown feathers, 
and it is vigorously carried on with loud challenging 
notes of defiance, accompanied by many fierce rough- 
and-tumble fights. When the ground is mostly bare, 
the snow remaining only in scattered drifts, the males 
gives up the chase and fairly splits his throat with ex- 
ultant notes. The Eskimos take advantage of this bel- 
ligerency, and snare many ptarmigan by means of fine 
sinew nets placed on small stakes set on the snow around 
stuffed skins of male birds. The hunter conceals himself 
and imitates the challenge cries until a neighboring 
grouse dashes blindly at his supposed rival and becomes 
enmeshed in the net. 
Aside from the birds which have a definite value as 
food are numerous smaller species, among which the 
"whisky jack" will become a familiar character to the 
miners. He is a kind of jay with a dull, smoky-brown 
coat and bright, inquisitive eyes, and is withal an intelli- 
gent and companionable little chap who has no hesita- 
tion in sharing your camp for the gratification of a 
frank curiosity and sound appetite. His impish ways 
were always highly entertaining to me, and, I do not 
doubt, will furnish amusement to many a gold hunter 
in his lonely camp. 
Although I have dwelt upon the birds, because they 
are more numerous and more generally distributed than 
most other kinds of game, the man who loves the rifle 
will find his opportunity among the mountains and val- 
lej's of the interior. Formerly large mammals were 
much more numerous in Alaska than at present, and 
the decrease has come about almost entirely since our 
ownersliip of the country. The history of the fur seal 
is well known. The sea otter is another animal that is 
passing away. Its doom is even more certain than that 
of the fur seal, for it is a dangerous thing for an animal 
to wear a coat worth from five hundred to -a thousand 
dollars. All that has kept the sea otter from extinction 
is its shyness and the fact that the stormy parts of the 
sea it frequents render its pursuit hazardous and uncer- 
tain. Upon the mainland are several fine mammals, 
among which native reindeer are the most generally dis- 
tributed. There are two kinds of these deer — a large, 
dark-colored one, called the woodland caribou, which 
lives in the wooded district of the upper Yukon, and a 
smaller, paler kind, called the barren ground caribou, 
which lives in the open tundras or treeless country. 
Barren ground caribou were once exceedingly numerous, 
and the coast hills along the shores of Norton Sound 
are still scored with their trails, leading diagonally up 
to the cool summits, where the animals used to go in 
summer to avoid the mosquitoes that swarm on the tun- 
dras. But even so far back as 1877 the caribou was very 
rare along most of the coast of Bering Sea. When 
Alaska passed under American control it became pos- 
sible for the natives to secure breech-loading rifles, es- 
pecially where whalers and trading schooners called, and 
the result was a rapid slaughter of the large game. 
Since the barren ground caribou usually live in the 
open tundras where there is no cover, it is extremely 
difficult for the hunter to approach unseen. Like the 
antelope of our Western plains, they are inquisitive ani- 
mals, and before starting away often make a circuit about 
anything which excites their interest. Before they be- 
came sophistic:ated by the common use of guns the Es- 
kimos had an ingenious method of stalking them in 
open ground, which the old hunters told me was very 
successful. The Eskimos hunted in pairs, and when 
they found a bunch of caribou on an open plain they 
would start directly for the animals, one hunter walking 
immediately behind the other, keeping step, with their 
bodies touching, so that from the front they appeared 
like one man. When they were still some distance away 
the caribou would throw up their heads and start oflf to 
circle around the intruders. The hunters kept on in 
their original course, apparently paying no attention to 
them, and when the men passed the first little bush, knoll 
BARREN GROUND CARIBOU. 
much of the interior, and during my residence ill tk& 
country a single individual was killed in the Yukon delta 
close to the sea — a very rare occurrence. In summer 
they are rarely hunted by the Indians in the dense for- 
ests of the upper Yukon, but are killed every now and 
then on the banks of streams or while swimming across 
them. In winter they wander from place to place, brows- 
ing on the tender twigs of cottonwoods, white birchfes 
and willows, until the increasing depth of snow forces 
them to unite in "yards." When caught in deep snow 
or with a heavy crust they are easily killed by the In- 
dians, who follow them on snowshoes. 
On the upper Yukon the old method of moose hunt- 
ing in early winter was for the Indians to go out on 
snowshoes after a heavy snowfall and search for fresh 
_ trails. When one was found the swiftest runner, stripped 
to a shirt and breeches, and carrying a light shotgun 
loaded with ball, started off after the tnoose, while the 
women and slower runners followed. Sometimes a 
moose would run eight or ten miles before being over- 
taken. At this season the cold is generally very intense, 
and the hunter would quickly freeze if he stopped while 
heated from his long run, and with so Uttle clothing. 
For this reason, after killing the moose he returned tp 
camp at a run, leaving the followers to cut up and drag 
the carcass home. When there was a light crust small 
dogs were used to bring the moose to bay and enable 
the hunter to kill it with less exertion! Before the sno\y 
fell in autumn the moose were stalked in the dense 
spruce thickets, but they were very wary animals, and 
usually became alarmed and started off at a swift trot, 
with a great clatter of hoofs, before the hunter caught 
sight of them. At such times the Indian, knowing the 
choose these white patches as the stage upon which to 
■strut and rufifie for the admiration of their female friends. - 
In the tundras they may be seen and heard on all sides 
as they fly up with stiffened wings a few yards above the 
snowbanks and then glide down, uttering loud, harsh 
notes. Every now and then the efforts of some gallant 
'COck become too obnoxious for his neighbor, who starts 
full tilt for his detested rival. The latter likes nothing 
better, and meets the enemy in midair. Thej'^ clinch and 
fall to_ the ground, apparently using beak, wings and 
claws in the encounter. During such times the moult 
of white feathers is profuse, and the combatants are the 
center of a perfect blur of whirling plumage. Directly 
one of the birds gets enough and starts off in hasty 
flight, pursued for 30 or 40yds. by the victor, who then 
or other cover the one in the rear sank down behind 
it while his companion kept on. The caribou con- 
tinued to circle as the single hunter advanced, and were 
almost certain to pass close to the concealed man and 
thus afford a deadly shot at short range. The sudden 
appearance of the concealed hunter drew the attention 
of the game from the man who had gone on, enabling 
him to drop flat upon the ground without being no- 
ticed. The caribou,- in starting off wildly from the new 
danger, often ran within shot of the man who had last 
concealed himself. Hunters told me that in this way 
they often got several shots before the animals finally 
gathered their wits and left the vicinity. 
The large woodland caribou of the upper Yukon lives 
in the forest with the moose. The latter ranges over 
HARLEQUIN DUCK. 
KING EIDER. 
SPECTACLED EIDER. 
STELLER'S EIDER. 
country and the habits of the game, would run at his 
best speed to the opposite side of the small basin or val- 
ley and take a position where he could see for some dis- 
tance on all sides, for when started in this manner the 
moose often made a wide circuit and returned within 
gunshot. 
Two species of mountain sheep, quite different from 
one another and from the Rocky Mountain bighorn, are 
known in northwestern America. The first of these, a 
superb, snow-white animal, was described by the writer 
some years ago as Ovis dalli, in honor of Prof. Wm. H. 
Dall, the pioneer scientific explorer on the Yukon. The 
specimens upon which my description was based were 
obtained from the Fort Reliance country by Mr. L. N. 
McQuesten, now President of the Order of Yukon Pio- 
neers. Dall's mountain sheep is found over a wide area, 
from the low hills beyond the tree limit near the Arctic 
coast south across the Yukon and Kuskokwim to the 
Alaskan range. Last year Dr. J. A. Allen described an- 
other species from the headwaters of the Stikine River 
and named it Ovis stonei. But little is known of this 
handsome animal, which has a dark, almost iron-gray, 
coat, very different from the white of Dall's sheep. The 
discovery of these two sheep in northwestern America 
indicates that we may expect other interesting, if less 
striking, new forms of animal life in the mountains of 
that region. 
In the high mountains bordering ■ the Pacific coast, 
north of Sitka, mountain goats occur, but we have little 
defitaite information concerning their range and abun- 
dance. Owing to the white color of Dall's sheep, it is 
quite probable that in many cases they may have been 
mistaken for goats. 
Bears also are very numerous in some places, and 
several kinds are known to occur. The huge bear of 
Kadiak and the Alaskan peninsula is the largest species 
in the world, and the skull of an old male looks as if he 
belonged to the animal life of a former geologic age, 
when beasts of gigantic size roamed the earth. Black 
bears are generally distributed over the rnainland, except 
on the barren tundras bordering the Arctic coast. About 
the last of October or first of November they find a 
sheltered cleft or cavern in the rocks, where they make 
a bed of leaves and grasses and hibernate until the warm 
days of April bring them out again. On the upper Yu- 
kon the Indians kill them with arrows, guns or spears. 
Some of the. bravest and most powerful of the bunters 
will attack them armed only with a long-bladed knife. 
In such cases the hunter wraps a blanket about his left 
hand and arm, and with it thus protected thrusts it out 
for the bear to seize as it rises upon its haunches, giving 
him an opportunity to make a fatal thrust under the 
guard thus formed. Both Eskimos and Indians give 
these animals credit for supernatural knowledge and cun- 
ning. The Eskimo hunters are very careful not to speak 
in a disrespectful manner of bears, and ape eapecially ' 
