THE ROCKY-MOUNTAIN GOAT 



849 



muzzle is covered with hair, except a small spot at the extremity, and the profile of 

 the face is convex. The horns are black and thick in both sexes; in the males they 

 rise (as in our figure) close to- 

 gether, and at first curve out- 

 ward, after which they make a 

 sharp turn and are directed 

 straight backward. According 

 to Mr. A. O. Hume, the horns 

 of the female are placed further 

 apart at the base, and curve out- 

 ward and then backward with- 

 out any marked angulation; but 

 other writers state that they are 

 similar in shape to those of the 

 males, but smaller and thinner. 

 Male horns vary in length from 

 twenty to twenty-four inches, 

 with a basal girth of nine or ten 

 inches. The head of the takin 

 is black, but the color of the 



coarse hair of the body varies from yellowish to reddish brown mingled with black. 

 Very little is known of the habits of this Tibetan Ruminant, but it appears to be 

 found either singly or in herds. 



UPPER PART OF SKUI.I, AND HORNS OF MAI,E TAKIN. 

 (From Hume, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1887.) 



THE ROCKY-MOUNTAIN GOAT 

 Genus Haploceros 



The so-called goat of the Rocky mountains {Haploceros montanus), which is 

 the third and last representative of the Bovida inhabiting America, is another ani- 

 mal nearly allied to the serow. This creature is about the size of a large sheep, 

 and averages one hundred pounds in weight. It has very short and stout legs, 

 terminating in broad and blunted hoofs, pointed ears, and jet black horns, curving 

 backward, and ringed for about half their length, but smooth above this. The 

 body is covered with a long coat of white hair, which is nearly straight, and falls 

 on the sides of the body and limbs, but is erect along the middle of the back, 

 and as it becomes longer over the withers and haunches the animal looks as though 

 it had two humps. Beneath the hair there is a thick coat of wool. There are no 

 glands below the eyes. In length the horns vary from six to ten and one-half 

 inches, and the skeleton is remarkable for the extreme shortness of the canon 

 bones. 



The range of this animal extends through the Rocky mountains 

 from about latitude 36 in California at least as far north as latitude 

 62, but Mr. J. Fannin believes that it will be found as far north as the mountains 

 reach. The same writer observes that it "is extremely abundant in British Columbia, 

 54 



Distribution 



