NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 253 



ing a test of sportsmanship. Only those sound of wind and Hmb 

 can venture after Oreamnos. The first rule in goat hunting is 

 to go to the highest point that can be found and this point is 

 apt to be very high. 



HABITS. 



The sight of a man does not seriously disturb a goat and it 

 seems to be of indifferent power of vision. Sounds affect it even 

 less. The constant falling of rocks and stones and the rumble 

 and breaking up of the glaciers, close to which it finds its home, 

 has led the goat to distrust the warning of its ears. Shouting at 

 a goat only arouses a slight curiosity and the report of a rifle 

 has scarcely more effect. The hunter may sometimes stand for 

 an hour in plain view of a goat without disturbing it, but its 

 sense of smell is highly developed and the slightest trace of human 

 scent will alarm it. 



These characters, together with confidence in the inaccessible 

 nature of its habitat, born of long experience with animals other 

 than man, have all combined to give the goat its reputation 

 for stupidity. It probably is stupid, but less so than would 

 appear to those accustomed to the nervousness of other game ani- 

 mals. The goat, like the skunk, has a serene reliance in its 

 ability to protect itself and is accustomed to gaze with indiffer- 

 ence at enemies who threaten it from below. The large males 

 are not lacking in bravery and will savagely fight off a dog when 

 attacked. Stories are told of wounded goat attacking man when 

 cornered, but most of the danger to the hunter lies in missing a 

 foothold, or in the stones rolled down from above by a fleeing 

 animal. 



Goat are marvelously tough and can carry more lead even 

 than a grizzly. It sometimes seems almost impossible to kill 

 them and in some cases when hopelessly wounded, they show a 

 tendency to throw themselves from a cliff. That this is a deliber- 

 ate act on their part is generally believed by goat hunters, but it 

 is doubtful whether it is more than a last desperate effort to get 

 out of harm's way. 



Goat, like moose, are inclined to be solitary, but are often 

 found in small family groups. They occasionally asscm!)lc in 

 larger numbers in some favorite feeding ground, as many as 

 twenty-seven having been seen together. 



