696 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May I, 1909. 
poured over the rocky wall and raced across 
the top of the mountain. They were mostly 
ewes, but back only a little distance from the 
leaders was the great ram that we had seen 
down below and that the Youngster and I 
would both have been glad to get. I had not 
fired, but now throwing my rifle to my shoulder 
1 aimed as 1 always try to, low down and well 
ahead of the sheep, pulled the trigger and at 
the crack of the gun his lordly head seemed to 
strilce the earth and he turned a complete somer¬ 
sault. 1 he Youngster’s gun was at his shoulder 
and he was going to fire another shot, but I 
said to him, "Hold on, what’s the use, we have 
now in camp more meat than we can use. Do 
not try to kill anything just for the pleasure 
of seeing whether you can hit it or not.” 
"Right you are,” answered the Youngster, and 
then turning he held out his hand and gave me 
a cordial grip saying, "I congratulate you on 
that big ram's head. It was the one we both 
wanted and the one I ought to have got if I 
had kept my wits about me.” 
"Yes,” said I, "it’s too bad that you shot at 
the other ram. I had not seen that one before 
and like you supposed that it was the big sheep 
until the big one himself made his appearance. 
But where is the one you shot at? I did not 
watch him and did not see him fall.” 
"No,” said the youngster, "neither did I, but 
on the other hand I did not see him go off with 
the rest of the bunch.” 
“Nor I,” was the repBc "We will look about 
and see if we can find him. He can hardly be 
far'off if you gave him the shot you intended.” 
"No,” said the Youngster, "I think I hit him, 
but of course one can never be sure.” 
We walked over to the big ram, which was 
indeed a beautiful animal. He had long and 
veiy symmetrical horns, unbroken at the points, 
although sadly marred by fighting, for great 
slivers seemed to have been split off the butts 
of the horns where they had come in violent 
contact with those of some other big ram. 
After I had bled him we stood up to look 
around for the Youngster’s ram, but he was 
nowhere in sight. For a hundred yards in all 
directions, except behind us, the ground was 
absolutely level, , and it did not seem possible 
that an animal so large as a sheep could lie on 
this level ground and yet be overlooked. Yet 
I had seen too much of hunting not- to under¬ 
stand that sometimes a large animal may be 
lying in plain sight and not be distinguished 
from the ground on which he rests. Before 
going over the ground in front of us, however, 
I went back to the edge of the bluff and looked 
down to see where the sheep had come, and 
there, not,four feet below the tops of the rocks, 
lying on a broad shelf, was a dead ram. 
I called the Youngster to me and pointed out 
the animal, which made him feel very contented. 
We slipped down on to the rocks and went to 
work on our butchering, and a little bit later 
had both animals ready to take to camp, whole, 
if we could get horses up to them, piece-meal 
if we had to cut them up and carry them down 
on our backs. In any event, as it seemed to 
me, it would be Itetter to take the heads and 
the neck skins on our backs and carry them 
down to the animals now rather than to leave 
them here on the mountain. Although most of 
the carnivorous animals that frequent these sum¬ 
mits are small, still if even one of these should 
get to chewing the nose or lips of a sheep head 
he could easily injure it in such a way that it 
could never be mounted. 
This was the first day of a very pleasant 
week’s hunt in these mountains, during which 
we got three excellent sheep heads, all the fresh 
meat we needed to eat and a very desirable 
bunch of fur purchased from some Indians who 
were glad to sell their pelts to us rather than 
to be obliged to go into the settlements with 
them. The Youngster had a delightful time and 
curiously enough seemed to credit me with hav¬ 
ing given him all the pleasure he had felt. As 
a matter of fact he was a very nice fellow, a 
SIERRA GROUSE FROM LAKE TAHOE, CALIFORNIA. 
From a photograph of a group in the American Museum 
of Natural History. 
good shot and a capital camp companion. 
Afterward I had many a pleasant hunt with 
him. After our vacation was over we returned 
to Victoria and presently were speeding east¬ 
ward over the Canadian Pacific Railroad once 
more to take up the toils of life. Ornis. 
Game Birds. 
Reports from the game bird covers are favor¬ 
able so far this season. The critical season has 
not as yet arrived, Init so far the conditions 
have been better than usual, and if heavy rains 
do not interfere with the nesting arrangements, 
it seems likely that quail and grouse will be 
abundant for the shooting next autumn. 
PURE MILK FOR BABY. 
Sanitary milk production was first started 
by Gail Borden in the early 50s. The best 
systems to-day are largely based on his 
methods, but none are so thorough and so 
rigidly enforced as the Borden System. For 
over fifty years the Eagle Brand Condensed 
Milk has proved its claim as the best food for 
infants.— Adv. 
Snipe Shooting. 
Doniphan, Mo., April 24. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: This year has been a very good one 
for jacksnipe, more so than for some time. It 
is now past the middle of April, and they have 
been in the swamp lands since March i. On 
their first arrival they were in such poor flesh 
that aside from the wish to test one’s skill on 
the long-billed birds, they were not tempting 
to the epicure—but after ten days’ stay they 
were in good flesh and afforded excellent sport. 
Snipe shooting has always had an attraction 
for me I cannot well account for, whether the 
surrounding landscape, touched with the first 
green tinge of spring, the song of the ever¬ 
present meadow larks, and the concert of the 
sweetest vocalist of all, the Southern mocking 
bird, that add a greater spice to the sport, I do 
not know, but it seems to me that every spring 
I enjoy the pursuit of snipe more than before. 
This year I hunted with two Northern owners 
of a large tract in the swamps. When I first 
arrived at the grounds everything looked against 
having good sport, the meadows and large wild 
pastures were almost dry, a heavy frost was 
still on the ground, and it made me think that 
the inclement weather had forced the snipe 
back South until better conditions were present. 
Indeed, it looked very much like this was the 
case; after hunting the pastures thoroughly only 
four snipe were bagged. Finally we decided to 
tiq/ some wild, flooded lands west of the Iron 
Mountain Railway, parts of which are in high 
state of cultivation. The snipe grounds were 
abandoned lands, grown up in blackberry, 
elbow brusli, rank plume grass and other plants 
that thrive so well in wet lands. On reaching 
the first elbow brush flat, snipe began to flush 
wild, until the air was noisy with the call 
“scaip.” I never in my life saw so many jack- 
snipe together, they were in thousands, flushing 
against wind, we ever on the bad side of them. 
Finally Mr. Boyden began to march through the 
thicket, flushing wild countless numbers at 
every step. Now dropping the few that came 
within range, we followed a hundred yards be¬ 
hind. taking each an edge of the flat at a 
snail’s pace; then the fun began, as the snipe 
dropped in again, scattered, and they were not 
so wild when they flushed singly. 
This field was not over ninety acres in all, 
yet each secured the limit with slight effort 
within an hour. For once I almost felt like 
kicking against the game laws that would cur¬ 
tail the day’s sport, but soon was reconciled, 
when I thought about whom the cleaning of the 
birds would fall upon, .-ks we walked home for 
luncheon, in every meadow we flushed sufficient 
birds to give a good day’s shooting. The cold 
nights must have caused bh-ds to congregate m 
one place where we found so many, the bom¬ 
bardment and heat of the day driving them 
finally to the open meadows. 
Parties coming to southeastern Missouri for 
the snipe shooting, should not encumber them- 
•selves with a dog. Birds are too plentiful for 
one to be bothered with a dog. In the second 
place, clothing should be light, as they wilt 
find the weather warmer than they have been 
accustomed to. Any of the bottom lands of 
southeastern Missouri will furnish plenty of 
sport, as the birds are rarely molested. 
Loch Laddie. 
