THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AS WE SAW HIM 



105 



leys, or upon slide-ways. In that locality at least, the 

 goat is not a September browser. During our whole 

 thirty days on his home range, we saw not one twig, nor 

 a piece of bark, that had been bitten off by goat or sheep. 



In September, the British Columbian goat is a crop- 

 per. He lives by cropping the thick leaves, and stems 

 also, of a number of large weedlike plants which grow 

 abundantly up to timber-line. Our first two goats were 

 shot while feeding upon a lace-leaved anemone or pasque 

 flower, called Pulsatilla occidentalis. Its leaves are finely 

 cut and lacelike, and one plant furnishes several good 

 mouthfuls. It was quite abundant, and the goats were 

 fond of it. We found it in fruit, with the peduncle 

 elongated into an upright stalk from eight to ten inches 

 high, crowned by a head of silky achenes, with long, 

 plumose styles, very suggestive of a ripe dandelion. 



Here is the whole array of species that we found in 

 my goat's stomach, and matched by plants found grow- 

 ing around our camp. The entire mass would have filled 

 a peck measure, and it was so slightly masticated that we 

 had no great difficulty in recognizing its principal in- 

 gredients. My specimens were identified by Dr. D. T. 

 MacDougal, as follows: 



Lace-Leaved Anemone Pulsatilla occidentalis 



Mountain Sorrel Otyria digyna 



Wild Valerian Valeriana. 



Yellow Willow Salix. 



Squaw-Weed Senecio triangularis. 



: 'Goat-Weed,' ; with flower like candytuft . .Unidentified. 



Mountain-Timothy Pbleum alpinum. 



"Wild Pea" . . . ' Hedysarum. 



Wild Strawberry . . , . . . . Unidentifiable. 



