NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 25 



or no water is found from August to October, except what is 

 furnished by such snow fields as persist throughout the year. All 

 other animals can, during the dry season, venture down to the 

 valleys and canons for water, but the goat seldom leaves the rocks, 

 even for water, relying on the snow of the mountain tops. 



This fact alone, I believe, is sufficient to account for the absence 

 of the goat, so often commented on by hunters, in many portions 

 of its range, where other conditions appear to be entirely suitable. 

 In southern British Columbia the great river valleys, such as 

 those of the Kootenay, the Columbia and the Beaver, run almost 

 north and south, and prevent communication from east to west 

 between the goat inhabiting the adjacent mountains, while these 

 same valleys offer no difficulties to the crossing of sheep and 

 other large animals. Farther north in the Stickine country wide 

 valleys are sometimes crossed. 



The presence or absence of water on the higher ridges, taken 

 together with the fact that the goat is not a very restless* or 

 migratory animal, accounts for many of the anomalies that are 

 observed in its distribution. It is probable that in the course of 

 its life the goat ranges over a smaller territory than any other 

 of our game animals and unless seriously disturbed does not 

 venture far from its native haunts as long as the food supply 

 lasts. They can usually be found day after day on the same 

 spot and goat have been watched, through glasses, which ap- 

 parently scarcely moved for days at a time. Of course, in such 

 a spot, food and water must be plentiful, and no danger threat- 

 ening. 



Along the Columbia River goat have been sometimes observed 

 to get into positions on the face of the cliffs, from which they 

 apparently could not escape. In spite of their great strength 

 and climbing ability, their home must be an exceptionally dan- 

 gerous one and it is probable that many lose their lives through 

 accidents. 



In British Columbia, during the early summer, the streams 

 from the melting snow on the mountain tops are found in every 

 draw and gulch. During this season small bands of females and 

 kids, or solitary males, are scattered everywhere in favorable 

 localities, from the upper timber to the summits of the moun- 

 tains. As the season advances however and the snow-fed streams 

 dry up, the only water available is found in the larger basins 

 where the snow has accumulated in large quantities. These 

 basins become the feeding ground of the goat and the rest of 

 the mountain side is deserted, except for an occasional individual 



