later, when they have no
cause to worry about either, they seek for entertainment. Quite a number
of our animals have invented amusements. Usually these are mere games of
tag, catch, or tussle, but some have gone farther and have a regular
institution, with a set place to meet, and apparatus provided. This is
the highest form of all, and one of the best illustrations of it is
found in the jovial Otter. Coasting is an established game with this
animal; and probably every individual of the species frequents some
Otter slide. This is any convenient steep hill or bank, sloping down
into deep water, prepared by much use, and worn into a smooth shoot
that becomes especially serviceable when snow or ice are there to act as
lightning lubricants. And here the Otters will meet, old and young, male
and female, without any thought but the joy of fun together, and shoot
down one after the other, swiftly, and swifter still, as the hill grows
smooth with use, and plump into the water and out again; and chase each
other with little animal gasps of glee, each striving to make the shoot
more often and more quickly than the others. And all of this charming
scene, this group and their merry game, is unquestionably for the simple
social joy of being together in an exercise which gives to them the
delicious, exhilarating sensation of speeding through space without
either violence or effort. In fact, for the very same reason that you
and I went coasting when we were boys.

Do not fail to get one of the guides to show you the Otter slides as you
travel about the lake. Some of them are good and some are poor. The very
best are seen after the snow has come, but still you can see them with
your own eyes, and if you are very lucky and very patient you may be
rewarded by the sight of these merry creatures indulging in a game which
closely parallels so many of our own.

* * * * *

IV

Horns and Hoofs and Legs of Speed

* * * * *

IV

Horns and Hoofs and Legs of Speed

THE BOUNDING BLACKTAIL

When Lewis and Clark reached the Big Sioux River in Dakota, on their
famous journey up the Missouri, one hundred and ten years ago, they met,
on the very edge and beginning of its range, the Mule Deer, and added
the new species to their collection.

It is the characteristic Deer of the rough country from Mexico to
British Columbia, and from California to Manitoba; and is one