Mountain Game 153 



run down in the snow by a man on snowshoes, in the 

 plain; but on a mountain side there are always 

 bare rocks and cliff shoulders, glassy with winter 

 ice, which give either goats or sheep an advantage 

 over their snowshoe-bearing foes that deer and elk 

 lack. Whenever the goats pass the winter in wood- 

 land they leave plenty of sign in the shape of patches 

 of wool clinging to all the sharp twigs and branches 

 against which they have brushed. In the spring 

 they often form the habit of drinking at certain low 

 pools, to which they beat deep paths; and at this 

 season, and to a less extent in the summer and fall, 

 they are very fond of frequenting mineral licks. 

 At any such lick the ground is tramped bare of 

 vegetation, and is filled with pits and hollows, actual- 

 ly dug by the tongues of innumerable generations 

 of animals ; while the game paths lead from them in 

 a dozen directions. 



In spite of the white goat's pugnacity, its clumsi- 

 ness renders it no very difficult prey when taken 

 unawares by either wolf or cougar, its two chief 

 enemies. They can not often catch it when it is 

 above timber line ; but it is always in sore peril from 

 them when it ventures into the forest. Bears, also, 

 prey upon it in the early spring; and one midwinter 

 my friend Willis found a wolverine eating a goat 

 which it had killed in a snowdrift at the foot of a 

 cliff. The savage little beast growled and showed 

 fight when he came near the body. Eagles are great 



