270 CASSIAR

apparently just for practice, and give grand rocketing
shots.

In addition to the ptarmigan there are several other
species of grouse; there are a few ruffed grouse at the
lower altitudes, a fair number of blue grouse, generally
pretty high up, and great numbers of Franklin grouse—
commonly called fool hens. The last named love the
jack pine flats and are not of great value for anything
except food—for which they are excellent—as they
seldom fly farther than the nearest tree.

From the timber line on Moose Mountain you get a
grand view of the hunting country. In front of you the
ground gradually slopes off and, as you descend, is first
covered with ‘‘ buck brush,” then patches of willow and
here and there clumps of balsams; lower still there are
small lakes and ponds and much open meadow and swamp
land. Then commences a gentle upward slope over a
succession of rolling brush-covered ridges, between which
are meadows and swamps. As you ascend the brush
becomes more stunted, until eventually, after six or seven
miles of such country, it disappears altogether and you
arrive on what is mostly hard, dry ground on which nothing
but short grass and moss grows. Farther on still, three
bleak barren hills rise sharply out of the plateau, one of
which has a top so flat that it appears to be as smooth
as a table. From it the mountain derives its name. Up
on the higher part of this barren ground no vegetation
of any kind grows, except for some moss in places, and
you can travel for miles and miles without finding even
grass enough to feed your horses, to say nothing of fuel
to boil a pot of water.

To your left, from the top of Moose Mountain, the
ground slopes off into a partly timbered. valley through
which a small river runs. In this valley there are numbers
of moose. Across the river is another curious flat-topped
mountain called Little Table Mountain, with a range of
rough, broken peaks flanking it. As you ascend the river
you again climb above timber line to open, rolling, barren
hills, Those barren hills are where my caribou hunting