8 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



The spiral forms about one-third more tlian a complete circle, which is 

 probably a unique feature in the species. 



It is difficult at the present day to ascertain what was the original 

 range of this race in the old days, but it embraced the mountainous districts 

 of Western North America, from the desert tracts of Colorado and Arizona 

 northwards into British Columbia, where it impinges on that of the black 

 race, even if the two do not intergrade. The most massive horns appear 

 to be those from Wyoming and Colorado. Few animals have suffered more 

 from the advance of civilisation than the true bighorn. Owing to the 

 persecution to which it has been subjected, it is now for the most part con- 

 fined to the higher mountain peaks (where it is year by year becoming 

 rapidly scarcer), and is one ot the shyest of all game animals. This, how- 

 ever, was not its original habit. As we are told by Dr. G. B. Grinnell,' 

 it was once found in the open country, where it frequented the higher 

 plains and plateaus, from which it only retreated when alarmed. Neither 

 was it the shy and suspicious creature of our own time, being, in fact, almost 

 as heedless of the presence of man as was the bison in the days of its 

 abundance. Now, alas ! the bighorn has disappeared from much of the 

 country where it was once abundant, and good heads are becoming year by 

 year more difficult to obtain. In the Yellowstone Park, where they are 

 protected by law, bighorn are still numerous ; and in Colorado, where pro- 

 tection is likewise extended to them, they are said to be increasing in 

 numbers. There are also laws prohibiting irregular destruction of bighorn 

 in Montana and California. South Californian bighorn belong to the next 

 race. From the Mount Shasta district of California bighorn have com- 

 pletely disappeared, although their bleaching bones still bear testimony to 

 their former abundance. " In early days," writes Dr. Merriam,- ''and as late 

 as the seventies, many were killed here by J. H. Sisson, ot Sisson Tavern. 



' Outing, vol. xxxvii. p. 254. (1900). 

 - North American Fauna, No. 16, p. 103 (1899). 



