THE LARGER NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 



449 



would mean death, is amazing. Even the old 

 rams, with massive sets of horns, bound from 

 point to point up a steep rock slope with mar- 

 velous grace and agility. Mountain sheep liv- 

 ing among the rugged summits of high ranges 

 possess the courage and prowess of skillful 

 mountaineers, so admired by all, and the mere 

 sight of one of these animals in its native 

 haunts is an adventure achieved by few. 



No other big-game animal carries with it the 

 romantic glamour which surrounds this habit- 

 ant of the cold, clear upper world. Big-game 

 hunters prize above all others their mountain- 

 sheep trophies, which form vivid reminders of 

 glorious days amid the most inspiring sur- 

 roundings and evidence their supreme prowess 

 in the chase. 



STONE MOUNTAIN SHEEP (Ovis 

 stonei) 



Owing to its dark, iron gray color, Ovis 

 stonei is often called the '"black" mountain 

 sheep. Despite its dark color, the Stone sheep 

 is probably a geographic race of the pure white 

 Dall sheep of Alaska. It has the same slender, 

 gracefully coiled horns, frequently amber col- 

 ored and extended in a widely spread spiral. 



Its range lies in northern British Columbia, 

 . especially about the upper Stikine River and 

 its tributaries ; thence it extends easterly to 

 Laurier Pass in the Rocky Mountains, north 

 of Peace River, and south perhaps to Babine 

 Lake. Unfortunately it appea:rs to have be- 

 come extinct in the southern border of its 

 range, so that its real relationship with the 

 Rocky Mountain sheep farther south may never 

 be determined. 



The sheep occupying the mountains between 

 the home of typical stonei and that of dalli in 

 northwestern British Columbia and southeast- 

 ern Yukon Territory are characterized by hav- 

 ing white heads, with bodies of a varying shade 

 of iron gray, thus showing evident intergrada- 

 tion on a great scale between the white north- 

 ern sheep and the "black" sheep of the Stikine. 

 These intermediate animals have been called 

 the Fannin, or saddle-backed, sheep {Ovis fan- 

 nini). Hunters report a considerable mingling 

 of entirely white animals among flocks of these 

 intergrading animals, and occasionally white 

 individuals are seen even in flocks of the typi- 

 cal dark sheep of the Stikine country. 



Like the white Alaskan sheep, the Stone 

 sheep exists in great abundance in many parts 

 of its range, especially east of Dease Lake. It 

 usually ranges in flocks, those made up of 

 ewes and young rams often containing a con- 

 siderable number. The old bucks, except in 

 fall, keep by themselves in smaller bands in 

 separate parts of the range. The Stone sheep 

 lives in one oi the most notable big-game fields 

 of the continent. Its home above timberline 

 is shared with the mountain goat and in the 

 lower open slopes with the caribou, while within 

 the adjacent forests wander the moose and two 

 or more species of bear. 



Owing to its frequenting remote and sparsely 



inhabited country, it continues to exist in large 

 numbers; but if its range becomes more ac- 

 cessible, only the most stringent protection can 

 save this splendid animal from the extermina- 

 tion already accomplished on the southern bor- 

 der of its range. 



DALL MOUNTAIN SHEEP (Ovis dalli) 



The only variation in the pure white coat of 

 the Dall sheep is a mixture of a few black 

 hairs on the rump, sometimes becoming plen- 

 tiful enough to form a blackish spot on the 

 tail and a light brownish stain over the entire 

 body, due to the slight discoloration at the 

 tips of the hairs from contact with the earth 

 in their bedding-down places. Their horns are 

 usually dull amber yellow and are notable for 

 their slender proportions and the grace of their 

 sweeping coils, which sometimes curve close to 

 the head and again spread in a wide, open 

 spiral. 



As their white coats indicate, the Dall slieep 

 are the northernmost of their kind in America. 

 Their home lies mainly in Alaska, where they 

 were formerly abundant in many mountain 

 ranges, from those bordering the Arctic coast 

 south through the interior to the cliffs on Ke- 

 nai Peninsula, but are now scarce or gone 

 from some mountains. To the eastward they 

 are numerous across the border in much of 

 Yukon territory, nearly to the Mackenzie 

 River. Their haunts lie amid a wilderness of 

 peaks and ridges, marked in summer with scat- 

 tered glaciers and banks of perpetual snow and 

 in winter exposed to all the rigors of a severe 

 Arctic climate. They are extraordinarily nu- 

 merous in some districts, as among the outly- 

 ing ranges about the base of Mount McKinley. 



In their high, bleak homes these sheep have 

 little to fear from natural enemies, although 

 the great Canada lynx, the wolf, the wolverine, 

 and the golden eagle, as overlords of the 

 range, take occasional toll from their numbers. 

 Their one devastating enemy is man, with his 

 modern high-power rifle. Even so long ago as 

 the summer of 1881, I saw hundreds of their 

 skins among the Eskimos at Point Bnrrow, 

 taken that spring with the use of Winchester 

 rifles among the mountains lying inlai'd from 

 the Arctic coast. Of late years the advent of 

 miners and the establishment of mining camps 

 and towns have greatly increased the demand 

 for meat, and this has resulted in the kil'ing 

 of thousands of these sheep. Large numbers 

 of these splendid animals have also been killed 

 to serve as winter dog food. 



The advent of thousands of men engaged in 

 the construction of the government rai'road 

 which, when completed, will pass through the 

 Mount McKinley region, makes innninent the 

 danger of extermination that threatens the 

 mountain sheep, as well as the moose and cari- 

 bou, in a great area of the finest big-game 

 country left under our control. 



Properly conserved, the game animals of 

 Alaska will continue indefinitely as one of its 

 richest resources, but heedless wastefulness 

 may destroy them forever. All sportsmen and 



