Three species of deer are found in Oregon and Washington, —the white-tailed, black-tailed, and mule deer. The two first- named species inhabit the country west of the Cascades, the black-tailed being most common. They also inhabit east of the mountains, but have been greatly decimated by the Indians, who kill them wantonly in snowy winters when they cannot run. In the mountains along the Lower Columbia and Lower Wallamet they are still very plentiful. Game-laws exist in Oregon for protecting them during a certain season, and yet lawless persons are found who kill them without regard to their condition. The mule deer is found only east of the Cascades, and is not common. It seems to be a hybrid between the antelope and black-tailed deer.
The antelope was an inhabitant of East Oregon, and was hunted by the Indians by a “ surround,”—for, though curious enough to stop to look at the hunter, it is very fleet and soon distances pursuit. Hence the Indian method of driving them into a corral, by coming down upon a herd from all sides and gradually forcing them into an inclosure .made for the purpose, —a very unsportsman-like way of taking such delicate game.
East Oregon also furnishes the mountain sheep. Jn the region of John Hay and Des Chutes Rivers, they were formerly very numerous. Their flesh is good, though likely to be flavored with whatever they feed most upon. It appears from the testimony of early voyagers to this coast, that the Indians formerly made a kind of cloth from the wool of the mountain sheep, but the process of its manufacture is unknown in Oregon at this period. The fact of the sheep being native to the grassy plains of East Oregon and Washington furnishes a hint by which wool-growlers have profited.
The prairie hare—a large, blue-gray species—is found in East Oregon and Washington, as w T ell as on the mountains of Southern Oregon, where it is very common. The flesh is good eating.
In the Olympic Mountains of Washington lives a curious creature knowm as the whistling marmot, or mountain beaver. It is very numerous about the head of the Quilcene River. These animals are about the size of a fox, and have long, bushy tails. When disturbed by the presence of man, w’hom they probably regard as an enemy, they run about from rock to rock, sometimes
