OVIS MONTANA, CUVIER. 
BIG HORN: ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 
Type locality.—Eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, between the Mis- 
souri and Saskatchewan rivers. 
Nomenclature.—This animal was first made known to the world, in 1803, 
by E. Geoffroy (Ann. du Mus. d’Hist. Nat., II., 360-363, pl. 60), as 
“ Belier de Montagne.” In 1803 or 1804, one or both, it received two 
technical names, O. cervina from Desmarest, and O. canadensis from 
Shaw, and the question of priority is yet unsettled. In 1817, Cuvier 
adopted as the name of this species the Latin equivalent of the name 
under which it was first made known to the world, thus: “ Belier de 
Montagne” (Mountain Ram) = Ovis montana. For some reason, 
nearly all writers from 1818 to 1895 chose to accept the name accepted 
by Cuvier as the one bestowed by the first describer of the species. 
During the past eighty years Ovis montana has been recognized and 
used by Richardson, Prince Maximilian, Blyth, Gray, Audubon and 
Bachmann, Baird, and a host of other writers. In view of these facts, 
and of the confusion which would certainly follow any change, it seems 
best to retain the name that long usage has made familiar, and which 
is also most appropriate. 
General description and measurements of an adult male specimen, seven 
years old, collected by W. T. Hornaday, in the Shoshone Mountains, 
Fremont County, Wyoming, November 16, 1880. 
Colors.—Body (except rump patch), neck, head (except end of muzzle), 
ears outside, legs to hoofs, and tail, uniform gray-brown, but varying 
considerably in intensity, even between members of the same herd. 
Sometimes the body color has a bluish tone. On the hind legs, espe- 
cially the front edge, the color is much darker, like Vandyke brown, but 
the posterior edges of the legs are lighter than the body. The hind 
quarters terminate in a conspicuous white or cream-yellow rump patch, 
which extends downward between the thighs and over the abdomen, 
until it terminates in a point a few inches in front of the flanks. The 
breast and abdomen, except as above, are covered with very dark 
hair, which is slightly intermixed with white hairs, and sometimes con- 
tains a light-colored patch. This dark-colored abdomen seems to have 
been specially designed by nature to render this mountain animal less 
conspicuous from below than if furnished underneath with white hair, 
like most animals of the plains. In fact, the peculiar colors of the 
Mountain Sheep are about the best that could have been selected to 
match the grayish-brown rocks of the Rocky Mountains generally where 
this creature makes its home. 
The end of the nose, the lips, and chin are much lighter than the 
remainder of the head and the body; in some specimens, almost white. 
The hoofs are black, with the exception of a white lower edge. 
The general color scheme of Ovis montana varies considerably, ac- 
cording to locality and time of year. The hair of freshly killed speci- 
mens, taken in November, in prime condition, sometimes has a rich 
