MAMMALS OF THE REGION 53 



photographed by a crowd of excited spectators, then 

 turned out to roam again over the valley. From just 

 below the great Carlsbad Cavern the wide plains stretch 

 eastward to the low horizon of the Llano Estacado, 

 and before the white man came, the view over the 

 valley must often have included vast herds of buffaloes. 

 The buffalo is our largest North American repre- 

 sentative of the Bovidae or Ox family, large bulls some- 

 times weighing upwards of two thousand pounds and 

 cows one thousand two hundred pounds. 



TEXAS MOUNTAIN SHEEP; BIGHORN 



Ovis canadensis texiana (Figs. 16 and 17) 



The herds of Texas bighorns, which have long strug- 

 gled for existence in the Guadalupe Mountains on both 

 sides of the state line, are just about holding their own 

 against predatory animals and predatory man. The 

 most optimistic estimate of their numbers in the whole 

 of the Guadalupe Range does not run above a hundred 

 individuals, although there is ample room and ideal 

 range for several thousand. They are scattered along 

 the heads of Slaughter, Big, Franks, Gunsight, McKit- 

 trick, and Guadalupe canyons, mainly on the eastern 

 slope of the range. Formerly they came down to 

 Rattlesnake Canyon, and undoubtedly to Walnut and 

 Dark canyons even below the present level of the 

 Carlsbad Cave. 



I found these sheep on April 29 and 30, in Slaughter 

 Canyon, where fresh tracks and trails were conspicuous 

 in one of the big caves high up on the canyon side. 



