THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 141 



out to be a sheep. It was walking along the side of 

 the mountain, and the naturalist dropped to the ground 

 and made a long stalk to the place where he thought the 

 animal would pass. He crawled to the top of the ridge 

 and waited half an hour before he saw the sheep, 

 between two hundred and three hundred yards to his 

 left and about one hundred from the top of the ridge. 

 Near this sheep could be seen two others, lying down. 

 He made a careful stalk to the ridge just above them, 

 but could not see them. After waiting in vain for 

 the animals to move along the mountain he rolled a 

 stone down in order to start them out, hoping to get 

 a flying shot at them as they ran. Either the sheep 

 were accustomed to rolling stones or their hearing 

 was not as good as their sight, for they did not move*. 

 A larger stone was then started down, and this 

 did the business effectually, for it started others and 

 the whole mass went bounding down, over the ledge, 

 right among the sheep. The animals went at full 

 speed along the side of the mountain to escape 

 from the rocks, and as they ran Dyche got in two 

 shots. He now ran to another point where he could 

 see the sheep rounding a crag. There were only two 

 running now, and they got out of sight too quickly 

 to give him another chance. Going back along the 

 side of the mountain, he saw a beautiful four-year- 

 old ram just as it was sinking to the earth. By the 

 time the measurements were taken and the animal 

 skinned it was after sunset, but the load was carried 

 two miles to the horse. Dyche was greatly exhausted 

 from the exertion and thirst, but was compelled to 

 walk another mile before he could ride. It was late 



