OXEN, SHEEP, AND GOAT FAMILY 



59 



Goat descends and comes into the valleys. This 

 does not seem to be the case. He does not 

 depend upon the grass, if indeed he eats grass 

 at all. His food seems to be chiefly the short, 

 almost lichen-like moss that grows on the faces 

 and at the base of the rocks and between them 

 in the crevices. None of the people in the 

 Methon country spoke of seeing Goats come 

 out of the mountains during the winter. I 

 ha\e not sufficient data to make the assertion, 

 but I am inclined to believe that the Goat keeps 

 consistently to the hills, whatever the season 

 may be, and in this ditifers from the Mountain 

 Sheep as he differs in appearance, temperament, 

 and in all characteristics, excepting the predilec- 

 tion for the inclined plane ; and in this habit he 

 is more vertical than the Sheep." 



Of hunting them he adds : " There is no use 

 in attempting to hunt them from below. Their 

 eyes are watchful and keen, and the chances are 

 that if you are working up from below and see 

 a Goat on the hill, he will have been looking at 

 you for some time. Once he is alarmed, ten 

 minutes will be enough for him to put a good 

 many hours of climbing between himself and 

 you. His favorite trick is to remain stock-still, 

 watching you till you pass out of sight behind 

 something, and then, he makes off so energeti- 

 cally that when you see him next he will be 

 on some totally new mountain. But his intelli- 

 gence does not seem to grasp more than the 

 danger from below. While he is steadfastly on 

 the alert against this, it apparently does not 

 occur to him that anything can come down upon 

 him. Consequently, from above you may get 

 very near before you are noticed." 



Of all big game animals the Mountain Goat 

 is by common consent considered the most 

 stupid. Mr. White's opinion is that "Goats are 

 either fools or great poets :" and Colonel Roose- 

 velt's pronouncement concerning the animal is : 

 " Verily the White Goat is the fool-hen among 

 beasts of the chase." This was uttered after he 

 had shot a buck, and one of its accompanying 

 does had run oiif for about a hundred yards and 

 then stopped to look at the Colonel ! 



Although the White Goat is essentially a 

 mountain animal, Mr. John Fannin has " known 

 Goats to be shot within a few hundred yards 

 of the sea-level, and to be captured while in the 



act of swimming rivers or wide stretches of 

 salt water." 



Except during the pairing season, November, 

 and in the middle of winter, they are not gre- 

 garious. The young are born in the spring, 

 and remain with their parents till the following 

 spring, but no large flocks are seen. 



Up to 1903, only four Mountain Goats had 

 been seen in captivity east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. In 1905, Dr. Hornaday personally con- 

 voyed a herd of five goats from Fort Steele, 

 British Columbia, to New York, and in May, 

 1908, the first Mountain Goat ever bred in cap- 

 tivity was born in the Zoological Park in that 

 city. On June 8, 1910, a second kid was born. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT 



Although sure-footed and fearless mountain climbers, the Goats 

 lack the grace and recklessness of the sheep 



It was amusing to see these denizens of the 

 mountains clambering over the roof of their 

 house in the Park. The food supplied to them 

 consisted of " best clover hay, crushed oats, 

 sliced carrots, and chopped apples." The legis- 

 lature of British Columbia a few years ago set 

 apart for the preservation of the Mountain Goat 

 about 450 miles of territory, between the Elk 

 and Bull rivers and around Monroe Lake, since 

 known as Goat Mountain Park, and here a 

 thousand of them found a safe retreat from 

 the insatiable hunter. 



The skin of the White Mountain Goat was 

 formerly in demand by the Indians, who made 

 the fleece into blankets, but of late years the 

 demand for these has ceased. Otherwise the 

 skin has no commercial value, and the flesh is 

 not very palatable. 



