108 NEW YORK :ZOOLOGICAE SOCIEEY. 
of the plateau for two miles farther. At last the rams reascended 
to their feeding-grounds, were found on my return hunt, taken 
completely by surprise, and the largest became a natural history 
specimen. 
It is well known that during the summer and autumn the rams 
and ewes form separate flocks, feed in separate pastures, and do 
not mingle again until late in the fall. 
Although it was then the middle of November the rams were 
flocking by themselves, and the ewes and lambs formed a separate 
bunch; but we found the two quite near each other. In the open 
glades near the friendly rim-rock the frosted-silver surface of the 
snow field was trodden into a perfect network of trails, and at 
frequent intervals it was broken up in patches, from six to ten 
feet square, where the sheep had pawed through the snow to 
reach the grass. The animals sought for the high points in the 
ground on which the snow lay less deep than on the levels. For 
nearly an hour we lay behind a large rock pile, and watched a 
flock of about twenty ewes and lambs literally grazing in the 
snow. The lambs usually fed close beside the oldest ewes, to 
take advantage of their efforts with the snow, and it was surpris- 
ing to note the sturdy strength of limb displayed by the adult 
members of the flock in breaking up the snow and throwing it 
back from a given spot. During the whole time that this flock 
was under observation it fed on a hillside, quite as busily as 
grizzly bears digging roots, and did not shift its position. 
As noted elsewhere, Mountain Sheep are very migratory in 
their habits, often taking very hazardous risks for the sake of 
seeking new haunts. In times past, nearly every large tract of 
rugged bad-lands in Montana and Wyoming contained at least 
a few sheep, and once they were common along the bluffs of the 
Missouri River, as far down as the mouth of the Cannon-Ball 
River. The most remarkable instance, of recent date, of the ven- 
turesome character of this animal is contained in a letter from 
Mr. Daniel Coolidge, a Pacific coast naturalist, who writes as 
follows: 
“The only place [in Southern California] where I know of Mountain 
Sheep, definitely, is on Chihuahua Mountain, near Warner’s Ranch, on 
the western edge of the Colorado Desert. For several years the cowboys 
tried to rope some of them, for Woodward’s Gardens, as they ran across 
Coyote Valley from Torres Mountain to Chihuahua Mountain.” 
