Further Observations on the Mountain 

 Sheep of the San Gabriel Range 



WILLIAM A. HILTON 



On the 15tli of DeceTiilier, 1917, 1 had the good fortune to come upon (luite a 

 number of the mountain sheep which range over some of the highest and roughest 

 elevations of these mountains. Occasionally one or several sheep have been seen by 

 those who have been climbing over Ontario, Cucamonga or Telegraph peaks. As a 

 rule the animals arc very shy and give notliing more than a glimpse. The exact 

 identity of these animals and their total number remains unknown. It has been 

 suggested that they are Oi'is canadensis nelsoni C. H. M. These that I saw are much 

 like the specimens in the college museum which were collected in Lower California, 

 but the horns of the male seemed more massive in the San Gabriel specimens so far 

 as I could keep the size and proportions in mind. Just how many Mountain sheep 

 there are in this range we ha\'e no clear wa}' of telling. I believe that the rather 

 large band which I saw is not all of them. Those seen by me on December 15th 

 were within a hundred feet from the top of the ridge of Ontario peak. They were in 

 the dense forest which grows near the top of the mountain on the San Antonio canon 

 side. As we ascended the trail we came in sight of seven or eight adult animals 

 partly hidden among the bushes. They were not farther than one hundred and fifty 

 feet away and did not at first see us ov take alarm, so it was possible to watch them 

 for some time. When a large ram caught sight of us he suddenly stopped walking 

 about and eyed our every movement, then when we came a little nearer the whole 

 band ran to tile top of the ridge and it was possible to count them. There were 

 twenty-four in all, at least six large rams, six females and six half grown young. 

 The exact number of each was impossible to make out. 



