THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AS WE SAW HIM 121 



an angry " billy " on a two-foot ledge, at a distance of 

 six feet or less, in taking a series of photographs of the 

 animal. One determined charge, and one fierce upward 

 thrust of those sharp horns, would have thrown the dar- 

 ing photographer off the ledge to instant death. 



The fighting qualities of this remarkable animal are 

 best illustrated by the records of actual occurrences. 

 For a number of years Mr. Arthur B. Fenwick has main- 

 tained a large ranch about fourteen miles north of Fort 

 Steele, British Columbia. Being an ardent sportsman 

 and nature-lover he has seen much of the mountain 

 goats, sheep, bears and other animals that literally sur- 

 round him. In response to an inquiry, Mr. Fenwick 

 wrote me as follows: 



" As to the fighting capacity of a full-grown billy 

 goat, he will, with a little luck, kill almost anything. 

 The story I told Mr. Van Nostrand related to an occur- 

 rence on Joseph's Prairie, where Cranbrook now stands. 

 A full-grown billy goat happened to stray out there, and 

 old Chief Isadore, who was camped there, saw it. He 

 and two other Indians thought that with horses, dogs 

 and ropes they could catch the animal, alive. I think 

 fifteen dogs left the camp for the goat. A little later a 

 squaw saw that they were having a bad mix-up, and ran 

 out to the Indians with a rifle. One of them shot the 

 goat. All but two of the dogs were killed on the spot, 

 or died very shortly. It was with the greatest difficulty 

 that the Indians saved their horses from getting punct- 

 ured by those terrible little horns. 



" I will tell you another fact, which without the ex- 



