54 ANIMAL LIFE OF CARLSBAD CAVERN 



For ages evidently this cave has been used by consider- 

 able numbers of bighorns as a refuge from storms, and 

 the spring, or drip pool, of excellent water in the far 

 end of the cave seems to be visited at all seasons. A 

 good sheep trail led into the cave from the rough ledges 

 half-way up the terraced canyon wall, while fresh 

 tracks and beds showed in the old, deep covering of 

 sheep manure on the floor. A few very old skulls of 

 mountain sheep were picked up near the doorway of 

 the cave. The cave room, one to two hundred feet 

 wide, by four hundred feet long and seventy-five feet 

 high, half -lighted by a great arched opening on the west 

 side and a small doorway on the east, affords an ideal 

 shelter for comfort and protection. It is one of the 

 caves showing no signs of human habitation, but was 

 probably used as a game trap by human occupants of 

 neighboring caves, as well as by predatory animals. 

 Bear tracks are sometimes found in the cave, but the 

 sheep would have a fair chance of escape from either 

 bears or mountain lions, as the cave is large and open, 

 and the sheep lie on the high slope of broken rocks, 

 which gives them the advantage of a mountain slope 

 for protection and escape. 



Another larger cave in the head of Big Canyon is 

 said to be much frequented by mountain sheep. There 

 are also hundreds of smaller caves with wide open 

 fronts all along the canyon walls, affording protection 

 from storms and helping to make this an especially 

 favorable range. The mountain slopes are densely 

 covered with chaparral, mountain plants and grasses. 

 The sheep are especially fond of the browse of mountain 



