THE AMERICAN AND KAMCHATKAN WILD SHEEP 805 



Habits 



The American wild sheep is described as one of 'the wildest and 

 most wary of all the large Mammals of North America; and since it 

 appears to inhabit more difficult and rugged ground than many of the other species, its 

 successful pursuit is proportionately difficult. Mr. J. Muir writes that "in spring and 

 summer the full-grown rams form separate bands of from three to twenty, and are 

 usually found feeding along the edges of glacier meadows, or resting among castle- 

 like crags of the high summits; and whether quietly feeding, or scaling the wild 

 cliffs for pleasure, their noble forms, and the power and beauty of their movements, 

 never fail to strike the beholder with lively admiration. Their resting place seems 

 to be chosen with reference to sunshine and a wide outlook, and most of all to 

 safety from the attacks of wolves. " It is stated that flocks of these sheep have, on 

 more than one occasion, been known to leap down a precipice of one hundred and 

 fifty feet in height. 



This species was formerly found in large flocks, but is now rapidly diminishing 

 in numbers; so that according to Mr. Shields, where it was at one time found in 

 bands of several hundred in- 

 dividuals it is now rarely that 

 more than fifty are seen to- 

 gether. Sentinels are posted 

 in prominent positions to give 

 notice to the herd of the ap- 

 proach of danger ; and the 

 agility of these animals in 

 making their way over glaciers 

 and crags is said to be unsur- 

 passed. In summer these sheep 

 will occasionally ascend as high 

 as twelve thousand feet; but 

 in the spring they wander into 

 the valleys in search of fresh 

 pasture or salt lakes. The 

 lambs, which are occasionally 

 two at a birth, but usually 

 one, are produced in May and 

 the beginning of June, and 

 when but a few days old will 

 follow their mothers up apparently inaccessible cliffs. The flesh of this sheep is 

 said to be equal in flavor to the best venison. The Indians hunt the bighorn by 

 tying a pair of horns on their heads, when they are able to creep within range. 



The Kamchatkan wild sheep, of which the head is represented in the ac- 

 companying cut and the skull in the figure on p. 803, is so very closely related to 

 the northern variety of the American species, that it may be a ques- 

 tion whether it is really anything more than a geographical race of 



HEAD OF THE KAMCHATKAN WILD SHEEP. 

 (From Guillemard's Cruise of the " Afarchesa.") 



Kamchatkan 

 Wild Sheep 



the latter. Thus both have the comparatively-small skull, and rela- 

 tively-slender horns with entire and outwardly-directed tips; while in both there is 



