214 THE OX FAMILY 



Like other wild sheep, the big-horn are gregarious. 

 They are like the goats, usually seen in small flocks ; 

 often the animals of but one family are together. The 

 big-horn has the agility of the antelope, but little of its 

 curiosity. It has none of the stupidity of its neighbor, 

 the white goat. 



Owen Wister says that in many, if not all the places 

 where the wild goats and sheep are found near together, 

 they will not be found on the same hill or mountain. 

 He repeatedly found them living on adjacent hills and 

 mountains, and heard others speak of them as being 

 usually found on separate hills, but could not account 

 for this separation. The food seemed to be equally 

 good on both grounds and all other conditions seemed 

 to be the same, but the goats seemed to claim one 

 ground and the sheep another. 



The range of the big-horn is much wider than that 

 of the goats. It is found on the Western mountains, 

 from Alaska and British America to Mexico and southern 

 California; from Colorado and Wyoming to the coast 

 ranges, going down near to the sea-line in the higher 

 latitudes. It was fairly abundant in all the Western 

 mountain States a few years ago, but is not now found 

 anywhere in such large numbers, excepting parts of 

 the British possessions and Alaska, and certain little- 

 frequented spots in our own States. The mountain- 

 sheep does not like a mountain with a town at its base 

 any more than the antelope likes the plains near the 

 cattle and sheep ranches. In many places where he 

 was fairly abundant a few years ago he is not seen 

 to-day. I have referred elsewhere to the fact that the 

 Big Horn Mountains have been "shot out." 



