One day on the head-waters of the Madison, I found that a
bear was coming to an elk I had shot some days before; and I at once
determined to ambush the beast when he came back that evening. The
carcass lay in the middle of a valley a quarter of a mile broad. The
bottom of this valley was covered by an open forest of tall pines; a
thick jungle of smaller evergreens marked where the mountains rose
on either hand. There were a number of large rocks scattered here and
there, one, of very convenient shape, being only some seventy or eighty
yards from the carcass. Up this I clambered. It hid me perfectly, and
on its top was a carpet of soft pine needles, on which I could lie at my
ease.
Hour after hour passed by. A little black woodpecker with a yellow crest
ran nimbly up and down the tree-trunks for some time and then flitted
away with a party of chickadees and nut-hatches. Occasionally a Clarke's
crow soared about overhead or clung in any position to the swaying end
of a pine branch, chattering and screaming.
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