372 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
cotton-wood upon the sides of slopes, which afford 
excellent covert for deer and bears. 
The actual width from margin to margin of 
the high land does not exceed 26 miles, although 
the length may be 100. It may readily be 
imagined that a month’s shooting upon this area 
would be sufficient to scare the animals from the 
neighbourhood, more especially as the hunters are 
invariably on horseback, and traverse great dis¬ 
tances each day. 
When I was there we very seldom found bears 
upon the open, as they retired to the obscurity of 
the forests before break of day. Bob Stewart 
assured me that two seasons ago it was impossible 
to ride out in the early morning without seeing bears, 
but he counted up a long reckoning of seventy- 
two killed since the visit of Lord Lonsdale’s 
party. This must have sensibly diminished the 
stock, and have afforded considerable experience to 
the survivors. Nevertheless upon several occasions 
bears exhibited themselves during broad daylight 
without being sought for. 
We were tired of nothing but venison in every 
shape, and although the German cook, “ little 
Henry,” was a good fellow, he could not manage 
to change the menu without other provisions in the 
larder. I accordingly devoted myself one afternoon 
to shooting “sage-hens” ; this is a species of grouse 
about the size of a domestic fowl, and, when young, 
there, is nothing better. The old birds are not 
only tough, but they taste too strongly of sage, 
