At Crevice Lake some ravens were seen circling over a spot high up on a steep slope. As I neared the spot two coyotes ran off, one of them carrying a piece of hide. The stomach, a lower mandible, hair, and a few pieces of hide were all that remained of a fawn carcass. On some ledges just above tbe beginning of a 300-yard trail made by the sliding carcass were four deer beds. Tracks showed that the fawn had made two jumps from its bed down the precipitous slope, and had fallen on the third jump and started its slide from which it never rose. Above the deer beds were a few coyote tracks. It seemed probable that coyotes had startled the deer and that the fawn had been attacked by coyotes after it had slid down the steep slope. This fawn may have fallen because it was weak, and possibly it was unable to rise after sliding down even before the coyotes finished it.

A short distance below Crevice Lake along the trail I found the remains of a fawn that had been killed recently. Two leg bones, a shoulder blade, an innominate bone, a few pieces of skin, and the stomach contents were all that were left; the flesh had been completely eaten. Just above the remains were fresh tracks of four deer which had been jumping down the hillside. It seemed probable that the dead fawn bad been one of the jumping deer.

Along the Yellowstone River about a half mile below the mouth of Lamar Creek, a little after noon, my attention was attracted by some ravens flying in small circles over scattered Douglas firs. As some of the ravens were alighting, it was apparent that they were at a carcass. Coming over the last ridge, I saw five coyotes run away from the carcass in different directions. They had been feeding on a male fawn deer, having eaten most of the hind quarters, the meat off the mandibles, and the ribs on one side. The fawn had been killed but a few hours previously for it was not frozen and still steamed a little. The tracks on the slope above the carcass showed that before the fawn had fallen it had been jumping in a zigzag course. For a distance of 100 yards on the back trail of the deer, a little blood appeared in places. Apparently the coyotes had been chasing the deer but there were so many tracks in the snow that I could not determine how the coyotes had maneuvered. The fawn had been running down hill before falling. About 400 yards from the dead fawn there were four adult deer feeding unconcernedly on the open slope.

At the mouth of Cottonwood Creek I saw where three or four deer had been jumping down a steep slope. Parallel to the deer tracks were coyote tracks, so it seemed that coyotes had been chasing the deer. One of the latter, a fawn, had fallen and had been dragged down the slope several yards and eaten. Little remained but some hair and the entrails.

About one-fourth of a mile below the mouth of Cottonwood Creek were hair and stomach remains of another fawn. Coming off the hillside immediately above the fawn were tracks of four jumping deer. Possibly the deer had been chased and the fawn had fallen.

Below Undine Falls along the Creek I found hair and stomach remains of a fawn that had died the day before. The snow had been tracked up by the coyotes and short trails led off to spots where the animals had brought pieces of the carcass to eat. The tracks indicated that the deer had been chased by four or five coyotes. On an open flat 30 yards above the remains were some bunches of deer hair and the area was tracked up as though the deer had been brought to bay. The drifting snow had covered the tracks too much to be sure of what had taken place. From this spot the deer had jumped toward the creek and descended an almost perpendicular bank, more than 20 feet high, which was one side of a short narrow draw. The deer had fallen at the base of the bank, and here it had been devoured.

Along the Yellowstone River below the mouth of Crevice Creek in a shallow ravine I found the carcass of a female fawn that had probably been dead only a few hours. The carcass was still limp although the temperature was about 20° below zero. Most of one side, including front and hind quarters, part of the intestines, and the heart and liver had been eaten. The coyotes apparently had eaten their fill, for on the fresh snow could be seen where they had been rolling and cleaning their muzzles and throats. There was not a trace of fat on the carcass, not even around the intestines. The animal had not been ham strung. There was a deep bite near the base of the neck, which had chipped part of a dorsal process of a vertebra. The tracks indicated that three coyotes had chased the fawn down a steep slope of jumbled boulders covered with a light fall of loose snow. One track followed that of the fawn, the other two were 6 or 7 yards to one side. I was able to back track the chase only about 60 yards to an area where elk and deer tracks were too numerous to permit further tracking. The fawn had been making 10- and 11-foot jumps. On a large boulder with a drop of 10 feet below it, the fawn had fallen as it struck, judging from the marks in the snow and the hair hanging on the gooseberry branches spreading over the rock. Below the rock the fawn had made five more jumps before falling. From here the carcass had been dragged over the rocks a dozen yards to the place where I found it. Lack of any fat on the animal suggests a weak fawn. On March 4 the carcass was still untouched by coyotes, probably because I had handled it considerably, but it was eaten later.

On a slope of Mount Everts a little below Undine Falls late in the afternoon I saw two ravens circling over a draw and then lighting on a tree in the area over which they had circled. Their actions indicated that a carcass lay in the draw so I followed a ridge leading to it. In the ravine to one side of me I caught a glimpse of two coyotes also traveling toward the spot pointed out by the ravens. Later these two coyotes got my scent and ran up a ridge above the carcass where they joined two others, one of which seemed to be leaving. One of the coyotes picked up the leg of a deer lying on the ridge but dropped it when another approached with arched back, lowered head, and wide open snarling mouth. A third coyote then picked up the leg and started up the ridge unmolested. Either the second coyote was interceding for the third one, or else the lordship of the third one was recognized by the others. In the ravine I found a fawn partially eaten. The carcass had slid from near the top of Mount Everts, several hundred yards down a precipitous draw filled with hard packed drifted snow. In one place where the carcass had struck some cedars bordering the draw, branches 1 inch in diameter had been broken by the impact. There were too many tracks to decipher what had taken place but it is probable that the fawn had been chased toward the draw, lost its footing, and then taken the long slide. It undoubtedly was unable to rise when it stopped sliding because of the injuries it must have received en route. There were coyote tracks above the steep gully and all the way down to the carcass. Two nosefly larvae were found in the nasal passages. Since the gular pouch and adjacent parts had been exposed, possibly most of the larvae had been eaten by magpies. The fawn was in poor condition for there was not a trace of fat, not even on the mesenteries. The stomach contents consisted of about 99 percent Douglas fir needles and twigs.

The following incident brings out several points so I will tell it in full even though there is some doubt that a coyote did the killing. About 10 p. m. a resident of Gardiner knocked at my door. I opened it, and was confronted by a tragic face and a breast bursting with righteous indignation. He asked if I was the man studying the coyote. "Well," he said, "I just wanted to tell you that a deer, still warm, is on the Mammoth Road near the upper bridge, which the coyotes have killed. If the coyotes act that way, I don't think much of them."

I thanked him for the information without offering any comments on the morals or amorals of the coyote and told him how happy I was to know about the deer for I wanted all possible information on coyote predation, and that I would investigate. I drove toward Mammoth and found the fresh carcass along the road and saw a coyote cross the road near it. The carcass was half eaten and the heart, lungs, and liver were missing, but the head was intact. I examined the carcass in my cabin. There was no fat on the animal. In the gular pouch, frontal sinuses, and nasal passages I found 104 botfly larvae, most of which were about 1 inch long. The nasal passages were packed with the larvae so that it was difficult to see how the animal managed to breathe. If the coyotes had killed this deer, they had eliminated an animal which unquestionably was unfit. There is a possibility that the fawn had been hit by a car, although I saw nothing that looked like bruises on the parts of the carcass available for examination. In any event this deer was in such poor condition that it would have been easy prey for the coyotes. I saved the larvae which filled a small olive jar and showed them to my informant, who had not realized that animals in Nature could be so afflicted.