382 SFORTING ADVENTURES IN TEE FAR WEST. 



priate, besides the fact that it is the one most generally 

 used in its designation. 



Being a member of the Cavicornia, or hollow -horned 

 family, some naturalists assume that it is deficient in some 

 of the characteristics of a true goat, and to be so closely 

 allied to the antelope as to be in reality a goat-antelope or 

 antelope -goat, or whichever is the true name to apply. 

 Professor Gray, of the British Museum, has placed it, with 

 the European chamois and the mountain goat of the Hima- 

 layas, in a particular group which he calls goat-like ante- 

 lopes, and he has given it the specific name of Mazama 

 americana, while he has classified the group under the 

 generic name of Mazame. Unlike the American antelope, 

 it does not, however, shed its horns; and it may, therefore, 

 be assumed to be the connecting link between the antelope 

 and the goat families. In looks and habits it is a true ca- 

 prus — a fact which one may soon learn by teasing a tame 

 youngster. The head and face are unmistakably those of 

 a goat, but the body seems heavier, deeper, and less round- 

 ed than that of the common species. It is about the size 

 of the domestic sheep ; and, on account of its resemblance 

 to the merino breed, it is often called the mountain sheep 

 in portions of the West, while the true mountain sheep is 

 known as the big-horn. 



There is some excuse for this mistake on the part of 

 those who have no knowledge of natural history, for its 

 fleece, which is snowy white, hangs down on the sides like 

 that of an ordinary sheep ; yet it may be readily detected 

 from wool by the fact that, though long, it is straight and 

 coarse. It is, however, much finer and softer than the cov- 

 ering of the domestic goat. The inner hair, which is about 

 one and a half inches long on the adult, is fine, soft, fleecy, 

 and tenacious, and is not unlike that of the Angora goat. 

 The outer covering is abundant on the neck, back, shoul- 

 ders, chest, throat, and thighs, but rather thin on the lower 

 part of the limbs. The tail is short, and, though generous- 

 ly clad with long hair, it is almost concealed by that which 

 covers the flanks and contiguous parts. A long white and 



