232 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



this is the sort of surface on which the mountain goat travels 

 dehberately, but with perfect ease and in any direction. 



After looking serenely down on the dog the mother begins to 

 show a little curiosity about the approach of the man with the 

 camera, and finally the kid's head is tempted out a bit (Photo- 

 graph 12) at the side of the mother; and then (Photographs 13 

 and 13a) the forward half of the body of the kid appears in 

 shadow looking down beneath the head of the mother. One 

 cannot avoid the impression that both animals are amused at 

 the ineffective efforts of the dog below. 



After all the films are exhausted we leave the pair of animals 

 in their safe niche and ascend the top of Ptarmigan Mountain. 

 Another series of facts now come out ; it proves that as soon as 

 the pair consider that all danger was over they leave the cliff 

 and seek the trail, and our knowledge of this fact came about in 

 the following way : Passing over to the westerly side we come 

 in view of the distant cliff, and Norboe's ear catches the sound 

 of some falling rocks. Using our glasses we finally discover 

 the four goats which had first escaped moving slowly up one of 

 the goat trails. They stop at the edge of the snow bank (Photo- 

 graph 2, point 6) to quench their thirst, then move leisurely along 

 to the mountain top, where they turn, and, showing their profile 

 against the sky along the crest of the ridge, descend into the valley 

 beyond. This is at 4.30 p.m. ; two hours before we had seen these 

 same animals on the top of the precipice. 



An hour later, namely, at 5.30, we happen to return to the 

 same point. On examining the distant mountain with a spy-glass 

 we are so fortunate as to observe the remaining pair, mother and 

 kid, pursuing exactly the same trail. They had left the niche in the 

 precipice and sought the nearest trail along the talus at the foot 

 of the mountain. We see them at precisely the same point. They 

 stop at the same snow bank to quench their thirst, and proceed 

 along the same trail to the sky line, slowly moving up along the 

 ridge, and then disappearing over to the other side. 



Throughout these movements one fact stood out prominently — 

 that is, that the precipice is sought by the mountain goat exactly 

 as the burrow is sought by the rabbit. The fact that this is a 

 deep-seated instinct is shown by the behavior of a kid which on 

 another occasion we saw separated from its mother. The move- 

 ments are always leisurely ; even while charging the motions are 

 not rapid, the dog easily backing off to a safe distance. The kid 

 appeared quite indifferent to the attacks of the dog; both animals, 

 in fact, exhibited perfect confidence in their ability to protect 



