THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 81 
an absolute close season at the present time with a view to 
increasing their numbers. The reports received from other 
districts are very satisfactory and indicate the wisdom of 
limiting the killing to males only. In the Lillooet region 
they have unfortunately so decreased in numbers as to 
necessitate a close season for several years. This decrease 
is said to be due to the excessive hunting by the Chilcotin 
Indians and to the abundance of cougars. 
THe Buack MovuntAIN SHEEP (Ovis stone?) 
This species was first described by J. A. Allen from 
specimens killed by A. J. Stone in the Cheonee Mountains 
of northern British Columbia, at the headwaters of the 
Stikine and Nass Rivers, in 1896. The black mountain 
sheep and the next species, the white sheep (Ovis dallz), 
with the intermediate colour grades shown in the accom- 
panying plate (VII), all of which are generally referred 
to as the dalli-stonei group, have more slender and less 
massive horns than the Rocky Mountain sheep (Ovis cana- 
densis). There is, however, among the sheep of the dalli- 
stonet group, considerable variation in the character of the 
horns. Charles Sheldon* describes the following types: 
“The narrow type, sometimes with very close spiral; the 
_ diverging type, often with a very wide angle from the per- 
pendicular—both these types occur with massive or slender 
horns; a type with horns very much curled, the tips extend- 
ing up well beyond the eyes; a type with very small, com- 
pact, curled horns, often well wrinkled in age, but very 
slight in weight; a type large at the base, and abruptly 
tapering outward to thinness; a type with horns curving 
without elevation from the skull, having the appearance of 
low horns; another, the reverse, in which the horns rise 
curling almost directly upwards from the skull, having the 
*Loc. cit., Appendix F, 
