CHAPTER VIII 



THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AS WE SAW HIM 



A Mountain Goat's Paradise — General Character of the Animal — Its 

 Place in Nature — Not an "Antelope" — Description — Distribution — 

 Food — Sleeping-Places — Accidents in Snow-Slides — Swimming — 

 Stupid or Not Stupid — Courage — A Philosophic Animal — Affection 

 — Fighting Powers — A Goat Kills a Grizzly — Bear-Shy Goats — 

 The Tragedy of the Self-Trapped Goats. 



" On dizzy ledge of mountain wall, above the timber-line, 

 I hear the riven slide-rock fall toward the stunted pine. 

 Upon the paths I tread secure no foot dares follow me, 

 For I am master of the crags, and march above the scree." 



— The Cragmaster. 



Of the thirty days spent by us in the home of the 

 mountain goat, two only were devoted to hunting goats 

 to shoot them. Scarcely a day passed without at least 

 one flock of goats in sight. We saw two hundred and 

 thirty-nine individuals, challenging all repeaters, and 

 carefully eliminating those seen a second or third time. 

 It was because we shot little that we saw much. 



The high country between the Elk and the Bull 



Rivers is indeed a mountain goat's paradise, and what I 



there saw of that strange creature gave me an entirely 



new set of impressions regarding its character and habits. 



We studied goats alive, we photographed them, shot 



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