PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 283 



(3J inches long) of this species, dried, was sent (to him for identification) 

 by Dr. Cooper, in behalf of the Geological Survey of the State of Cali- 

 fornia, as having been given to them with the information that it had 

 been obtained in the State." He notes that the appearance of the 

 specimen led him to believe that it came from China, and in this opinion 

 I would fully coincide, having carefully examined it. The species is 

 provisionally included in this list. At some future time individuals may 

 Btray into our Pacific waters. 

 November 11, 1879. 



ON THE IIABITS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN OOAT. 



By ]>R. JAMES C. MERKIL.L, U. S. A. 



Fort Shaw, Montana, Oetoher 21, 1879. 

 Professor S. F. Baird, 



My Dear Sir : Since I last wrote to you I have passed two months 

 at Fort Missoula, on the eastern limit of the Bitter-Eoot Eange, and 

 ■whUe there, finding that the wild goat was comparatively abundant, I 

 made several attempts to obtain a skin and skeleton for the Smith- 

 sonian. I hunted them myself for two weeks, but unsuccessfully, only 

 seeing one, and that I did not obtain. At that season they are in the 

 highest and roughest peaks near and among snow, but in the winter, 

 come down to the lower slopes and valleys. 



You may be interested in the following items-concerning this species, 

 which I obtained from trustworthy sources : 



Accounts vary as to the rutting season and time of dropping the kids, 

 but agree in the latter being two in number. During the summer the 

 male, female, and kids keep together and until the appearance of the 

 next young, though during the winter two or three of these families 

 unite. At this season it is unusual to see more than a dozen together, 

 though large bands are said to have been seen. The goats in all their 

 movements are heavy and slow. They are most successfully hunted with 

 dogs ; when started by them they generally climb up the nearest rock 

 and stand them off; and while so doing are easily approached and shot. 

 When wounded and in close quarters they are rather dangerous, and 

 are apt to use their horns with effect. They feed at sunrise and sunset, 

 passing the day on some smooth flat rock in the sun, from which they 

 can keep a good lookout, but rarely start untU closely approached. 

 The one I saw was among large masses of rock above snow-line. He 

 got up Avithin thirty yards of me, stood in full view for a moment, and 

 then walked slowly off, almost hidden by the rocks. At first, though 

 so near, I took him for an albino bear (and several old hunters told me 

 they had made the same mistake! !) ; his large size, slow, heavy move- 

 ments, and manner of looking back over the shoulder, with the absence 

 of fear, being very different from my preconceived notions of the " white 



