SEARCHING FOR SHEEP 115 



long time. They soon fed toward me and came within 

 a hundred yards, when I carefully noted the colors. 

 I have never ceased regretting that I did not kill and 

 preserve them for science. In half an hour, stones were 

 heard falling from the slope above and two more ewes 

 appeared, descending, both of a whitish appearance like 

 the darker ones near Coal Creek. All continued to 

 browse on willows and scratch away the snow to reach 

 feed on the ground. Among the willows and bare 

 patches of ground, their color blended so perfectly with 

 their surroundings, that often, after glancing away from 

 them for a moment, it was difficult to see them again. 

 After awhile they began to return slowly up the slope, 

 continuing to feed until finally I noticed the two single 

 ewes standing motionless for a long time, directing a 

 steady gaze to the north. 



Looking in that direction, I saw, about half a mile 

 distant, a cow moose and her calf, feeding among the wil- 

 lows on a ridge the other side of a small draw ; they were 

 gradually advancing in my direction. There in the snow 

 fields, under towering peaks and rugged mountains, 

 while sheep were feeding close by on the broken slopes, 

 I had my first sight of moose above timber-line in the 

 northern wilderness. The cow, between pauses to browse 

 on willows, continued walking without looking up or show- 

 ing the least suspicion of enemies, presenting a significant 

 contrast to the alert, watchful sheep. When the moose 

 had passed out of sight near the foot of the ridge, I began 

 to walk slowly toward that part of the slope where they 

 were apt to ascend. When I was within one hundred 



