SHEEP-HUNTING IN THE 

 MOUNTAINS 



OyiS MONTANA, locally and variously 

 f called the mountain sheep, Big-horn, or 

 Taye, is very closely allied to, if he is 

 not identical with, Ovis argali, the wild sheep 

 of Asia, and he is akin to the European Mouflon. 

 He stands about as high as a black-tail deer, but 

 is much thicker and more massively made in the 

 body and limbs than the latter animal. His head 

 resembles that of a domestic sheep, but it is larger 

 and more powerful-looking, and, in the case of the 

 male, it is surmounted by a huge pair of curving 

 horns far longer than those that adorn the head 

 of any civilised ram. Among these animals this 

 ornament is not confined to the male sex, for 

 the females also carry small horns. The hair is 

 coarse, very thick and close, resembling that of 

 the deer in texture, but bluer in colour over the 

 greater portion of his body, with a peculiar ex- 

 ception which makes him look as if he was in the 

 habit of sitting down in the snow, and some stuck 



