XIV 



THE BIG-HORN 



" I "HE big-horn, or mountain-sheep, is one of the best 

 ^ of the North American big-game animals. He has 

 a splendid head with large curved horns, which sug- 

 gested the name, his flesh is excellent, and his pursuit 

 is so difficult as to make him a prize worth having. 

 When I first went to shoot in the Far West the bip-- 



o 



horn were not uncommon in the Bad Lands, and I heard 

 of their being seen on the level prairies when passing 

 from one range of hills, or buttes, to another; but this 

 animal, like the elk and deer, has retreated before the 

 advance of civilization, and is to-day found only high 

 up in the mountains, usually above the timber-line in 

 summer, and descending lower into the timber to escape 

 the severe storms of winter. 



So long as they remain in their mountain fastnesses 

 the sheep are comparatively safe, since the settlers and 

 miners in the valleys do not care to undertake the long, 

 arduous journey up the mountains, with only a slim 

 chance of securing a sheep in many days' hard climb- 

 ing ; but in the winter, when the animals are driven 

 lower by the snows, many fall to the rifles waiting for 

 them in the hands of the miners and ranchmen. 



There are several varieties of wild sheep distributed 

 in the mountains throughout the world. Our big-horn 



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