396 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



must be not only of an active and vigorous form to bear 

 steep mountain climbing and a rarified atmosphere, but he 

 must also possess the qualities of patience, perseverance, 

 and hardihood ; for its pursuit may lead him through deep 

 and gloomy precipices, over ground so stony and rough as 

 to seem impassable, and amidst pinnacles whose towering 

 altitudes and craggy sides make their ascent almost as dif- 

 ficult as many of the famous peaks of the Alps. In early 

 summer, however, it may be found at elevations of only 

 four or five thousand feet above the level of the sea ; but 

 from May to September, or as soon as the lambkins are 

 able to travel, it moves higher up, for the greater safety of 

 the young, and to secure the dainty vegetation that grows 

 in every available spot as soon as the snow disappears. 



Though the favorite habitats of this animal are rugged 

 hills and mountains, yet it will also thrive in a rough and 

 broken country where the herbage is not only coarse but 

 scanty, provided there are rocky steeps and dark chasms 

 within convenient distance to which it can retreat when 

 alarmed, or when it is pursued by foes. When a flock is 

 migrating to pastures new, the sentinels, or leaders, care- 

 fully scrutinize the country before them from every com- 

 manding position, and when they are satisfied with its ap- 

 pearance, the whole party advance boldly, and, having made 

 it their head-quarters, throw out vedettes, generally males, 

 which mount guard on elevated crags or hillocks, and vigi- 

 lantly survey their surroundings until their companions 

 have dined, when all seek shelter amidst ci'ags, small pine 

 or fir coppices, and inaccessible shelves of rock or sombre 

 canyons, where no ordinary enemy can follow them with- 

 out making its presence known. 



When a sentinel detects the approach of a suspicious ob- 

 ject, he sounds an alarm at once by a few loud and peremp- 

 tory hissing snorts ; this brings the flock huddling togeth- 

 er, the ewes and lambs being in the centre; and when the 

 column is formed, all dash for the highest ridges at their 

 best pace, and never stop until they have sought a safe ref- 

 uge among crags or chasms. The advance is always led 



