The White Goat 271 



six inches in circumference, and twenty-one and 

 a half inches from one tip down to the skull and 

 so across and up to the other tip. I also learned 

 that the goat is safe from predatory animals. 

 With his impenetrable hide and his disembowel- 

 ling horns, he is left by the wolves and mountain 

 lions respectfully alone. And T told me of a 

 mother goat's energy. A prospector had in early 

 summer captured a kid still too young to run 

 much. Its mother saw him taking it to camp, 

 ran after him, chased him in full sight of his 

 comrades so hotly that he had to drop her child, 

 and she got it back ! I have said by inference, 

 but must definitely state, that the kids are 

 dropped in May and June. 



To the sum of our knowledge about the 

 Oreamnus montanus, the gift of a subspecies 

 has lately been offered; but acceptance of this 

 gift would at present, I think, be premature. It 

 depends on one's idea of the number of facts 

 needful in daily life to justify a generalization. 

 For instance, if you should read in the paper 

 that one person died of diphtheria last week in 

 New York, it would not prevent your going to 

 that city; but if you read that five hundred had 

 died in a week, you might decide not to take 



