THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AS WE SAW HIM 113 



reasons the mountain lion and wolf do their hunting far 

 below him. 



Truly, the goats we saw at home were unacquainted 

 with fear. They have no nerves! With dogs and men 

 you can corner a goat on a ledge, and hold him there 

 for an hour or two. He will get very angry, and grit 

 his teeth, and perhaps kill several of your dogs, but he 

 will not get " rattled," and he will neither fall ofif nor 

 leap off to certain death, as any deer surely will do under 

 such circumstances. There are some men, and also some 

 animals, who do not become panic-stricken, even when 

 they are being killed; and of the latter I think the 

 mountain goat is one. 



We like a " nervy " man, or a nervy animal, — which 

 in common parlance means an individual without nerves! 



Fifty years ago the grizzly bear was an animal which 

 knew not fear of any living thing; and then he was Great. 

 To-day the grizzly is a quitter. In nine cases out of 

 every ten, the moment he sees a man, he runs from him, 

 frantically. A cotton-tail rabbit does not turn tail more 

 quickly or more thoroughly than he. He is wiser than 

 he was; but we don't respect him as much as we did 

 fifty years ago. 



The mountain goat seems to have rather dull visual 

 powers. We think so because he does not seem to see 

 us as soon as we discover him, or at least does not mani- 

 fest fear by running from us. But it may be that he 

 does see us, as quickly as a deer or sheep, or bear; but 

 having only a fraction of their suspicion of man, he does 

 not move off until he feels really forced to do so. Small 



