THE BIG -HORN, OR MOUNTAIN SHEER :;:*7 



by a sturdy ram, one that is generally looked upon as the 

 loader, and the roar and flanks are carefully guarded by 

 the young males. When flocks of old rams congregate to- 

 gether, which they always do after the running season is 

 over in December, the first one in an alarm that moves off 

 is the loader, and all the rest, like the domestic sheep, fol- 

 low him heedlessly, in a bunch, until a halt is made, when 

 sentinels are again posted, and the source whence danger 

 is expected is carefully watched. 



In regions even where they are little disturbed, they 

 raise their heads every few minutes while feeding, and sur- 

 vey their surroundings ; and as they are both sharp of eye 

 and keen of scent, it requires the most careful stalking to 

 approach them within shooting range without being de- 

 tected. They will get the scent of a hunter to the wind- 

 ward seemingly half a mile away; and when that terrify- 

 ing odor is made known to the flock they display the great- 

 est symptoms of terror, and dash wildly for the highest 

 pinnacles, now leaping nimbly from crag to crag, or vault- 

 ing dark and narrow chasms with the greatest ease, anon 

 plunging head foremost into precipices apparently deep 

 enough to shatter them into fragments should they strike 

 the ground ; nor do they stop until they have placed a 

 goodly distance between themselves and their most dread- 

 ed foe. They hurl themselves from giddy heights into the 

 depths below with such readiness that one is liable to give 

 some credence to those tales related by red and white hunt- 

 ers, which specify that they would prefer death to an en- 

 counter with man ; and that their horns are so strong and 

 elastic that they can fall upon them on a crag several feet 

 below, and rebound to their feet none the worse for the 

 concussion. The latter statement may be taken with a 

 large grain of salt; for though I have seen them make 

 some terrific plunges, and some which I thought would re- 

 sult in their instantaneous destruction, yet they escaped un- 

 injured, not, however, because they alighted on their horns, 

 but on their feet ; and these being enveloped in a corneous 

 and elastic covering, capable of bearing a severe shock, 



