ON THE PRAIRIE 89 



found, and it is often very difficult to make 

 them out when lying motionless on a ledge 

 of rock. Time and again they will be mis- 

 taken for boulders, and, on the other hand, 

 I have more than once stalked up to masses 

 of sandstone that I have mistaken for sheep. 

 When lying down the big-horn can thus 

 scan every thing below it ; and both while 

 feeding and resting it invariably keeps the 

 sharpest possible look-out for all danger 

 from beneath, and this trait makes it need- 

 ful for the hunter to always keep on the high- 

 est ground and try to come on it from above. 

 For protection against danger it relies on 

 ears, eyes, and nose alike. The slightest 

 sound startles it and puts it on its guard, 

 while if it sees or smells any thing which it 

 deems may bode danger it is off like a flash. 

 It is as wary and quick-sighted as the ante- 

 lope, and its senses are as keen as are those 

 of the elk, while it is not afflicted by the oc- 

 casional stupidity nor heedless recklessness 

 of these two animals, nor by the intense curi- 

 osity of the black-tail, and it has all the 



