144 OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 



they were exceedingly wild, alarmed their compa- 

 nions on. the approach of danger by a hissing noise, 

 and scaled the rocks with a speed and agility which 

 baffled pursuit. Their favourite feeding-places are 

 grassy knolls, skirted by craggy rocks, to which 

 they can retreat when pursued by dogs or wolves. 

 They are accustomed to pay daily visits to certain 

 caves in the mountains, that are encrusted with a sa- 

 line efflorescence of which they are fond. The horn;; 

 of the old rams attain a size so enormous, and curv 

 so much forwards and downwards, that they effec- 

 tually prevent the animal from feeding on level ground. 

 The flesh is quite delicious when in season, far su- 

 perior to that of any of the deer which frequent the 

 same quarter, and even exceeding in flavour the 

 finest English mutton." * 



In 1818, Professor Jameson presented a skin of 

 the Rocky Mountain sheep to the Wernerian So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh, and recommended an attempt to 

 be made for its introduction to this country. For 

 this purpose, a committee was appointed to confer 

 with the Directors of the Highland Society, and 

 Mr Thomas Laurie (the eminent land-valuator) was 

 requested to give in a report regarding the value of 

 the fleece. We have thought that gentleman's re- 

 marks upon the wool worthy of insertion : " The 

 wool, which forms the chief covering of the skin, is 

 fully an inch and a half long, and is of the very finest 

 quality. It is unlike the fleece of the common sheep, 

 * Fauna Boreali- Americana, i. p. 271 . 



