Alaskan Bighorn 



17 



its surroundings in a manner which tends to convey a very erroneous im- 

 pression of its real character. During the spring and summer months the 

 hair is frequently stained and discoloured hy contact with wet soil when 

 the animal lies down. Each hair is a tliin white tube, filled solidly with a 

 spongy, white pith, which readily takes up any liquid colouring matter by 



Fin. 4. — The Home of the Alaskan Bighorn Sheep. Photographed by Mr. Dall de Weese. 



capillary attraction. When the end of a hair becomes iiUed with rusty 

 yellow clay-water, or water discoloured by dark grey earth, the colouring 

 matter is held there for an indefinite period. This it is which sometimes 

 imparts to the hair of this animal the appearance of being tipped with 'a 

 dull rusty speck.' It is strikingly shown in some skins in the American 

 Museum of Natural History, collected in the month of May. . . . On one 

 of these the entire pelage had been so discoloured by what was probably 



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