were everywhere.

Woodpeckers and flickers did their bit to keep vermin off the trees,
and performed daily operations on trunk and limb, removing borers and
beetles that had penetrated beneath the bark, thus saving the lives of
many evergreen monarchs. Around ten and eleven thousand feet there
were campbirds, Canada jays, friendly and inquisitive; on first
acquaintance they often took food from my hands, and helped themselves
freely of any food accessible in camp. They were unruffled, flitting
softly from tree to tree, with little flapping, calling low, and in a
sweetly confidential tone.

However friendly I found the birds, the big game animals were extremely
wary. I mentioned the fact to the Parson.

"They've been shot at," was his explanation. "Every time they've come
in contact with men they've suffered. They know men are dangerous,
always have guns."

In spite of the Parson's observations we always had wild game hanging
in the log meat house; there was never any question about securing
whatever we wanted in that line. Except during the winter months, deer
could be had with little effort. But the elk had practically vanished;
occasionally a lone survivor strayed into the ranch valley. There were
bears, of course, shy and fearful, in the rough, unsettled country. We
had great variety of meat, venison, Bighorn sheep, grouse, ptarmigan,
wild pigeon, sometimes squirrel and, rarely, bear steaks.

Wherever I went, even in the far-away places where few men had ever
been, the deer and elk and bear were very wild, and I found it
impossible to approach them unless the wind was from them to me, and I
moved forward carefully hidden. I spent many eventful days, walking,
climbing, sitting motionless to watch the scampering chipmunks, or to
invite the birds up close. Thus, a little at a time, I came to know
the habits of the wild folks I met; learned their likes and
dislikes--the things that excited their curiosity, and that frightened
them away in panic.

Upon my first climb to the top of Long's Peak alone, I halted above
timberline and stared about in amazement at the wide stretches of
rock-strewn slopes. From a distance these had appeared no larger than
a back yard, but a close-up revealed they were miles across; and
instead of being barren, were a series of hanging gardens, one above
another, each of different shape and size, and all green with grass and
with a hundred different kinds of wild flowers waving