OXEN, SHEEP, AND GOAT FAMILY 



55 



rams on the high crags and the mixed bands on 

 the lower slopes. Not so the old patriarchs. 

 Away up on the shoulder of some great wilder- 

 ness peak they loaf through the summer days. 

 For hours at a time they lie in the soft mountain 

 grass, looking out over the blue sea of the foot- 

 hills. If they want water, a thousand rivulets 

 fall from the everlasting snowfields ; if they are 

 hungry, they feed among the clean wind-swept 

 pastures that lie at dizzy angles above the tower- 

 ing cliffs, and when their hunger is appeased 

 they hunt a soft bed in the sunshine and doze 

 away the happy hours. . . . The lambs are born in 

 the early spring, and it is one of the marvels of 

 nature how the tiny, defenseless things can live 

 through the cold sleet storms common at that 

 time of the year. Luckily their enemies are com- 

 paratively few. The Cougar's range ends at 

 about the same northern limit as the range of 

 the Rocky Mountain Bighorn, which is south of 

 the Black Sheep ranges of northern British Co- 

 lumbia. Eagles are responsible for the death of 

 many lambs, and undoubtedly that arch fiend the 

 Wolverene, takes toll from the white bands. I 



have seen a white ewe spring up in alarm at the 

 approach of an eagle, and stand on the alert by 

 her lamb until the broad-winged marauder had 

 passed." 



Fannin's Sheep is a species of Mountain 

 Sheep discovered in 1900 on the Klondike river, 

 Yukon Territory, the specimen being named in 

 honor of Mr. J. Fannin, Curator of the Provin- 

 cial Museum at Victoria, British Columbia, to 

 which institution it had been presented. It 

 resembles Ball's Sheep to some extent, the 

 general hue being white, with the shoulders, back, 

 fore legs to knee, and hind legs to hock, outside, 

 gray. The rump patch is white, and tail similar 

 to back, but darker. On the front of the fore 

 leg and on front of the thigh, in both cases 

 extending to the hoof, is a brown stripe. It 

 measures about five feet from nose to tail, and 

 has a shoulder height of nearly three feet. Its 

 horns are similar to those of Ball's Sheep, and 

 have a basal circumference of thirteen and 

 one-half inches, and a spread of twenty-one and 

 one-half inches. It is a handsome and striking 

 Sheep. 



NELSON MOUNTAIN SHEEP 

 Ovis nelsoni Mcrriam 



General Description. — See also general description 

 of Rocky Moinitain Bighorn. !Much paler in color, 

 smaller in size, and with smaller teeth than the Rocky 

 Mountain Bighorn. 



Dental Formula. — See formula for Rocky Mountain 

 Bighorn. 



Pelage. — Upper parts, pale dingy-brown. Underparts 

 and legs, much darker, contrasting sharply with the 

 white areas. Groin, hinder part of belly, inner aspect 



of thighs and posterior aspect of fore and hind limbs, 

 white. Rump patch white, small, and completely 

 divided by medium line of drab-gray. 



Measurements. — Length, male, 50 inches ; tail, 4 

 inches; hind foot, 12 inches; height at shoulder, 33 

 inches. 



Range. — Desert mountain ranges of southern Cali- 

 fornia and northern Lower California. 



Food. — Leaves and twigs of shrubs. 



This Sheep is a desert-loving variety, living in 

 regions where water is scarce and found only in 

 occasional springs. The pale color and small size 

 are a response to an environment where colors 

 are of a weak tone, and the scanty food supply 

 militates against the size of the animal. 



It is one of the smallest of the Mountain 



Sheep, averaging a little over four feet in length, 

 with a height at the shoulders of less than three 

 feet. It occurs in the mountains of southeastern 

 California and in the i)eninsula of Lower Cali- 

 fornia.. In general characters it bears a resem- 

 blance to Stone's Mountain Sheep, but is some- 

 what paler. 



