1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 61 



tunate enemies. The balance of nature was disturbed almost as 

 much by the advent of horses as by that of gunpowder. 



It is an interesting fact that buffalo, once native to Oregon, will 

 thrive if returned to suitable valleys, but in even these great open 

 valleys such dangerous and migratory animals must be restrained 

 by strong fences. Although the Oregon subspecies is extinct the 

 plains species is no longer in danger of extermination. There is an 

 abundance available for breeding purposes. They are hardy and 

 prolific, and there is no reason why Oregon should not have buffalo 

 steaks and buffalo robes as well as a good showing of one of our 

 most interesting forms of native wildlife. 



[OREAMNOS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS (BLAiNvnxs) 2 * 



MOUNTAIN GOAT; WHITE GOAT; WHITE BUFFALO; PIEYANIN of the Klikitat 

 (Chambreau) ; KOKNIK of the Wasco 



Ovis montanus Ord, Guthrie's Geog., 2d Amer. ed., p. 292 (description on pp. 

 309-310), 1815, earliest name but preoccupied by Ovis montanus the moun- 

 tain sheep. 

 R[upicapra] americana Blainville, Bull. Sci. Soc. Philomath, Paris, p. 80, 



1816. 

 Mazama dorsata Rafinesque, Amer. Monthly Mag. 2:44, 1817 (Renaming Ovis 



montanus Ord). 



Oreamnos Rafinesque, Amer. Monthly Mag. 2 : 44, 1817. 

 Oreapnnos montanus Merriam, Science (n. s.) 1: 19, 1895. 

 Oreamnos americanus americwius (Blainville) Hollister, Biol. Soc. Wash. Proc. 



25: 185-186, 1912. 



(All based on Ord's Ovis montanus after Lewis and Clark. Rafinesque's genus 

 Mazama apparently applies to a Mexican deer; his Oreamnos seems to be 

 the earliest generic name available for the mountain goat.) 

 Type locality. "Cascade Range near the Columbia River in Oregon or 

 Washington." This refers merely to the place near which Lewis and Clark 

 saw their skins and the blankets woven of their wool among the Indians. 



General characters. Not a true goat, buffalo, or antelope, but structurally 

 nearest to the Old World antelopes, with which it agrees in permanent hollow 

 sheathed horns, similar to those of the chamois, one of its nearest relatives. 

 Size considerably larger than the mountain sheep; form low and heavy, high 

 over the shoulders with stout neck and large head ; tail a mere rudiment ; legs 

 heavy and strong; feet large with heavy hoofs and small secondary hoofs 

 (dewclaws) on all four feet; horns black, small, slightly recurved, with annular 

 bases and smooth, sharp points ; hairy coat long, with coarse mane, beard, and 

 chaps and fine dense wool over rest of body ; color normally pure white all over 

 except black horns, hoofs, nose, lips, and eyelids. 



Measurements. A large male from British Columbia collected by E. A. 

 Preble : Total length, 1,740 mm ; tail, 100 ; hind foot, 360. Weights of large males 

 have been estimated at 300 to 500 pounds. A large male killed west of North 

 Yakima, Wash., was reported by A. S. Harmer as 8 feet 3 inches from tip of 

 nose to tip of tail; horns 10 inches; weight 507 pounds. (Outdoor Life, 1915, 

 p. 459). 



Distribution and habitat. White goats do not now and perhaps 

 never did inhabit Oregon, but they have been so often reported from 

 the State that some explanation seems necessary. In the original 

 description of the species in 1815 Lewis and Clark in their journal 

 notes reported them along the lower Columbia River in 1804 and 

 1805 and say: 



We have seen only the skins of these animals which the native dress with 

 the wool and the blankets which they manufacture from the wool. They live 

 in great numbers on the chain of mountains forming the commencement of 

 the wooded country on the coast (the Cascades) and passing the Columbia 

 between the falls and the rapids. 



2a Hypothetical. 



