THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AS WE SAW HIM 117 



before it finally realized the danger, and ran out of 

 range. 



That was not due to dulness of mind, or stupidity. 

 It was due to a lack of information^ — ignorance of exist- 

 ing facts. 



Take the record of our four days on Goat Pass, 

 where we camped literally on the goat's highway be- 

 tween two groups of mountains. The first day we saw 

 forty-seven goats, all of which saw us; and three of them 

 ran through our camp. On the third day we saw forty- 

 two goats, and were seen by all of them. We did not 

 fire a shot on those mountains until the third day, when 

 we killed two goats. On the fourth day it was remarked 

 with surprise that all the goats had '* left the country! " 

 This was literally true. Word had been passed around 

 among the ten or twelve flocks originally living there, 

 that there was danger afoot; and as if by magic, one 

 hundred and ten of the one hundred and fifteen goats 

 we had seen simply vanished! The only bunch that re- 

 mained was a flock of five nannies and kids which were 

 isolated on a rugged mountain that ran ofif due west- 

 ward from the main chain of peaks on which we were. 

 Evidently they did not get the word which alarmed all 

 the rest. We had fired our rifles in one spot only, which 

 was at the extreme northern end of that goat-infested 

 area. Our guides remarked, " We've got to get out of 

 here, and look for goats somewhere else, if we want to 

 find any more." 



Mr. F. B. Wellman, of Banff, a very observing guide, 

 who has seen much of goat and sheep hunting, does not 



