1 82 The Mountain Sheep 



fannini} These four may be considered not so 

 much varieties of sheep as works of fiction. 



As to the general name, all are agreed to let 

 him pass conveniently as a sheep, — conveniently, 

 but with a number of reserves which science can 

 state. He has, for instance, some things in com- 

 mon with the goat family. Indeed, science can, 

 in final analysis, hardly separate sheep from goat. 

 Relatives in this continent our Ovis possesses 

 absolutely none ; but there are cousins to be 

 found in Kamchatka, Tibet, and India; and 

 I have been told by one hunter that the moufflon 

 of Corsica resembles him not a little. I've for- 

 gotten to mention that he hasn't any tail to 

 speak of. So now at length, you, who have 

 never looked upon him, see him, if you can, 

 through my unscientific vision, as I rubbed his 

 nose at Livingston, Montana: tall almost as a 

 deer, shaped almost like a heavy black-tail deer, 

 close haired, grayish, tailless, with unexpected 

 ram's horns curving round his furry ears and 

 forward, with eyes dark yellow and grave, and 

 with the look of a great gentleman in every line 



^ White and gray. In size about that of the Dalli and Stonei. 

 Horns white ; curved closer to head than Dalli and Stonei. Range 

 Upper Yukon River. Range more in the timber than Stonei or 

 Dalli ; habits very much those of Canadensis. 



