222 THE ox FAMILY 



known to dwell, the sportsman sets out at daybreak, or 

 even earlier, and moves to the top of the mountain or 

 ridge. With his glass he looks about until he discovers 

 a flock of the goats feeding below him. The game is 

 not hard to see when on the rocks, but of course 

 is more difficult to locate when standing on the 

 snow. When alarmed, the animals run off up hill or 

 along the ridge, and the sportsman can often intercept 

 them. 



A careful stalk will usually bring him within range 

 without the animals taking alarm ; they sometimes 

 stand for several shots before running away, and when 

 they start will often run directly toward the shooter 

 if he be above them and fairly well concealed. 



On some of the mountains the goats spend much of 

 their time in the timber. Here they make the well- 

 worn trails, such as Mr. Shields photographed for his 

 magazine. Roosevelt says he has killed goats by lying 

 in wait beside the well-trodden trail th-ey make in the 

 timber. " The hard work," he adds, " is to get up to the 

 grounds. Once the animals are spied, there is but little 

 call for the craft of the still-hunter in approaching 

 them. Of all American game the white goat is the 

 least wary and most stupid." 



It seems strange, notwithstanding the cumulative 

 evidence of the sportsmen who know best the habits 

 of game animals and are interested in learning if they 

 are easy or difficult to approach, shy or confiding, 

 to read in natural histories that the white goat is 

 "shy." 



In some of the natural histories the mountain-goat 

 is described as being seldom disturbed or seen by 



