152 The Wilderness Hunter 



goats can go up and down it with ease. With their 

 short, stout legs, and large, sharp-edged hoofs they 

 clamber well over ice, passing and repassing the 

 mountains at a time when no man would so much 

 as crawl over them. They bear extreme cold with 

 indifference, but are intolerant of much heat; even 

 when the weather is cool they are apt to take their 

 noontide rest in caves; I have seen them solemnly 

 retiring, for this purpose, to great rents in the rocks, 

 at a time when my own teeth chattered because of 

 the icy wind. 



They go in small flocks; sometimes in pairs or 

 little family parties. After the rut the bucks often 

 herd by themselves, or go off alone, while the young 

 and the shes keep together throughout the winter 

 and the spring. The young are generally brought 

 forth above timber line, or at its uppermost edge, 

 save of course in those places where the goats live 

 among the mountains wooded to the top. Through- 

 out the summer they graze on the short mountain 

 plants which in many places form regular mats above 

 timber line; the deep winter snows drive them low 

 down in the wooded valleys, and force them to sub- 

 sist by browsing. They are so strong that they plow 

 their way readily through deep drifts; and a flock 

 of goats at this season, when their white coat is very 

 long and thick, if seen waddling off through the 

 snow, have a comical likeness to so many dimin- 

 utive polar bears. Of course they could easily be 



