Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 , 1911 . 
VOL. LXXVII.-No. 19 
No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
PTARMIGAN. 
THE PERMANENT CAMP. 
A Sheep Hunter’s Diary 
Pictures and Text by the Judge 
L EAVING camp early 011 foot on Wednesday, 
Sept. 1, Jack, Doctor and I started for the 
high pass above Jack’s Glacier to spend the 
day watching for sheep. As we came slipping 
quietly along just at the edge of the rock mass 
at the foot of the cliffs, we heard constantly the 
shrill, plaintive cry of the shy pika or little chief 
hare, and by sitting perfectly still and watching 
with the glasses, we would now and then spy 
one of the cute little fellows with his tiny ears 
laid back, gathering a mouthful of grass or piling 
it up to cure in the bright sunshine on top of 
some large rock before storing it away in winter 
quarters. 
Arrived at the foot of Jack’s Glacier, we en¬ 
countered an enormous mass of boulders rolied 
up in a great round furrow, as if by the share 
of a gigantic plow, and above it the blue ice and 
snow. Stopping here to screw sharp calks into 
the heels of our shoes and to unwind the glacier 
rope which Jack always has wound around his 
body ready for emergencies, we began the long 
climb across this glacier, which extends from an 
elevation of possibly 6,500 feet to perhaps 9500 
or 10,000 feet. Jack claims it is 10,000 feet. He 
says: “Last year a doctor’s come here with me, 
is have'm fonny li’l feller in box is know how 
many feet high.’’ 
Arrived at the summit we found the tracks of 
three rams which within a day or two had 
crossed through this pass into the adjoining val¬ 
ley, which stretched away beneath our feet for 
several miles, surrounded upon all sides with 
(Continued from last week.) 
beetling cliffs and blue g’aciers. Here we re¬ 
mained the greater part of the day, watching 
with our glasses and scanning the enormous ex¬ 
panse of snow and ice which stretched away to 
the north, range on range of peaks, eternally 
frozen. No sheep, however, were discovered 
and we returned to camp at dark. 
Sept. 2.—To-day Jack and I decided to try the 
country on the southerly side of Jack's Moun¬ 
tain, between the mountain and Napoleon’s 
glacier. He cleaned up his .30-30 repeating rifle 
and filled the magazine, remarking: “Judge, 
sposin’ we catch ’m the ram, mebbe I’m help 
you shoot ’em-.’’ Upon, however, being forbidden 
to shoot at all under any circumstances, unless 
we should start a bear, he decided not to carry 
the rifle further, although somewhat under pro¬ 
test, saying: “Always I’m help the white man 
shoot ’m the sheep.’’ 
We found that the easterly slope of Jack's 
Mountain broke off toward the glacier in a series 
of high benches of rock, covered with moss and 
tiny flowers and affording beautiful grazing and 
watching places for sheep, and after we had 
climbed up a thousand feet or so above the valiey 
among these benches, we found the fresh tracks 
of four rams. All day we trailed these rams 
from bench to bench, watching constantly at 
every point, occasionally pausing for a quarter of 
an hour or so to scan the steep sliderock a mile 
away on the easterly side of the valley, upon 
the chance that some old ram might come out 
there and lie down for his midday lookout. Fre¬ 
quently two or three rock ptarmigan would spring 
to flight from among the rocks, clucking wildly, 
or wander suspiciously along by one of the tiny 
rivulets which ran out from the base of each 
small snowfield. 
Finally, late in the afternon and just as we 
had about concluded to turn toward camp, com¬ 
ing out at the northerly end of the highest bench, 
we spied at a distance of six or eight hundred 
yards, and standing in the midst of a big rock 
slide high up on the mountain, four rams watch¬ 
ing us, one of them a splendid patriarch. Al¬ 
most immediately they started running across the 
face of the slide rock, climbing toward a steep 
saddle which connected the backbone of this 
mountain with the high snowy pass above. 
Jack, who was greatly excited, declared that 
the rams would upon gaining this saddle turn 
and make for the pass, and asked me if I felt 
abie to make a running climb for the pass along 
the bench and around the upper edge of Na¬ 
poleon’s glacier. Although considerably ex¬ 
hausted with the first two days’ hard toil, I 
agreed to tackle it if he would carry my rifle, 
and stripping off everything we could leave, in¬ 
cluding our shirts, we started on a heart-break¬ 
ing run across the great boulders and up over 
the steep snowfields. I had not yet become suffi¬ 
ciently accustomed to the high altitude but that 
my nose bled a good deal, and nothing but the 
thought of that splendid head with whose owner 
we were racing kept my muscles going. When 
about my last particle of energy and breath had 
