804 



THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



Rocky mountains to the Pacific coast; although there are some mountain ranges 

 within this area upon which it has never been observed. Along the valleys of 

 the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers it extends, however, some four 

 hundred miles to the eastward of the Rocky mountains, inhabiting the 

 so-called "Bad Lands" of these districts. 



According to the observations of Colonel J. Biddulph there are two 

 distinct varieties of this sheep, the one inhabiting the northern, and 

 the other the southern portion of its distributional area. The southern variety is 

 characterized by its large skull and very massive horns; the tips of the latter being 



Distribution 



Varieties 



THE AMERICAN WILD SHEEP OR BIGHORN. 

 (One-sixteenth natural size.) 



generally broken and directed forward. The ears are large, broad, pointed, and 

 deer-like, with hair of only very moderate length. In the northern race, on the 

 other hand, the skull is smaller, and the horns less massive, with their tips generally 

 entire, and directed outward, as in the skull of the Kamchatkan species represented 

 in the figure on p. 803. The ears are small and thickly furred, with blunted ex- 

 tremities; and there is a tuft of long hair between the ears at the back of the horns. 

 There are, moreover, certain differences in the coloration of the legs in the two 

 races; and it does not appear that the southern one ever assumes the dark winter 

 coat frequently found in the northern variety. 



