The Mountain Sheep 



i«i 



densis ' (or Ovis cervina, as some books still have 

 it), more than one or two subdivisions will prove, 

 in the end, valid enlargements of our knowledge. 

 These are Ovis dallii- a white variety in central 

 Alaska, north of latitude 60°, and (perhaps) Ovis 

 stonci^ a dark variety with horns more slender 

 and outward curving, in Alaska and North British 

 Columbia. The four other would-be subspecies 

 have been set down as Ovis canadensis audu- 

 boniy Ovis nelsoni^ Ovis niexicana^ and Ovis 



1 Dark brown, shading to tan and ecru, tinged with grayish blue; 

 large, heavy boned ; massive horns curved close to head, well flat- 

 tened, deeply corrugated on upper rim, usually battered at the points 

 in the older rams. Range the Rocky Mountains north from the 

 Colorado River to the head waters of the Peace River, British 

 Columbia. Range in upper edge of timber line. 



2 White. Summer coat of a rusty hue. Not so large as Cana- 

 densis. Horns white, curved well away from head ; not so deeply 

 corrugated, less massive than Canadensis. All of Rocky Mountains 

 north of 60' N. L., and Alaskan Mountains in Western Alaska Range, 

 above timber line. 



^ The darkest of all the sheep, shading from light to very dark 

 gray tinged with brown. Horns long and graceful but slender, 

 spreading farther from the head than those of any species. Range 

 the Rocky Mountains between 55° and 60° N. and in the Cassiar, 

 Campbell, and Simson mountains farther west and north to 62° N. 



* Light brown to ecru tinged with drab. Horns similar to Cana- 

 densis. Range the semi-desert country in Southern states from 

 Texas to California. 



^ Darker than Nelsoni, but not so dark as Canadensis. Size 

 large. Horns broad and massive ; molar teeth larger than in any 

 known American sheep; tail vertebra long. Range Chihuahua 

 Mountains in Northern and Western Mexico. 



